Non-Subscriber Extract
Imagery reveals probable Russian S-400 site
By Doug Richardson
05 February 2008
Google Earth satellite imagery has highlighted what appears to be S-400 hardware deployed for training at the Ashuluk surface-to-air missile (SAM) firing range in Russia.
Located about 110 km north of Astrakhan in southwestern Russia, Ashuluk is the most widely used SAM training range in the Russian Federation. Open-source imagery analyst Sean O'Connor located the site and identified two probable 92N6 multifunctional (tracking and missile-guidance) radars, a 64N6 early-warning radar and multiple 5P85T2 towed transporter erector launchers (TELs), plus a 300 km-range 96L6 radar vehicle located more than 1 km southwest of the other S-400 components.
O'Connor believes the images show the first operational S-400 unit when it was conducing tests at Ashuluk, seen before being deployed to its operational site at Electrostal outside Moscow.
The TELs at Ashuluk are about 16 m in length and therefore longer than the 14 m of the 5P85T TEL used by the S-300PM-1, O'Connor calculated. As the 5P85T2 is towed by a new BAZ-6402 tractor, which is larger than the KRAQ-260 used to tow the 5P85T, the increased length is the most significant evidence that this is an S-400 unit.
Image: These two sites at the Ashuluk SAM firing range in Russia show an array of S-400 hardware, probably deployed for training by the first unit to be equipped with the system. (Google Earth/DigitalGlobe)