S-400 systems. FILE IMAGE: Alexey Malgavko / Sputnik
Russia has converted as many as 17 launchers from its S-400 air defense system to fire ballistic missiles at targets in Ukraine, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed on August 26.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, known as the DIU, said the Russian military is operating five special missile units, based in Russia’s Bryansk and Rostov regions, equipped with the converted launchers.
“The total number of converted launchers of this air defense system that the enemy can use to conduct strikes is up to 17,” the intelligence agency said in a statement responding to a request from the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
The launchers are being used to fire the RM-48U, a ballistic missile developed from the 48N6 family of long-range missiles originally designed for the S-400 system, according to the DIU. The missiles carry high-explosive fragmentation warheads weighing 150 to 180 kilograms, and are claimed to have a range of up to 120 to 200 kilometers.
Ukrainian officials said the first confirmed use of the RM-48U came on the night of January 20, and the missile has since been fired in combined strikes on Ukraine.
The DIU reported a sharp rise in the missile’s use recently. Russia fired about 15 RM-48U missiles per month from January through June but launched 46 of them in just the first 20 days of July, the agency said. It linked the increase to an expansion of Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv.
The officials said Russia’s push to rely more heavily on the RM-48U is driven by cost. The missile is cheaper to produce than the Iskander-M, another ballistic missile Russia has used extensively against Ukraine, and Moscow holds a stockpile of roughly 400 RM-48U units, according to the DIU.
The agency said Russian defense manufacturers are currently able to both build new S-400 launchers and upgrade existing ones for missile strikes. It further claimed that Moscow is planning to produce more than 480 RM-48U missiles this year.
Since the start of the Russian special military operation, Ukraine has repeatedly claimed to have been targeted with missiles from S-400 and older S-300 systems converted to ballistic missiles. Moscow has so far not confirmed these claims. Furthermore, the very existence of the RM-48U remains a matter of debate, with the only source cited on it being Ukrainian intelligence.
The latest claim came as Ukraine is facing a serious shortage of air defenses. Kyiv has been focused on promoting the threat posed by Russian ballistic missiles to solicit more support from its Western backers, in particular expensive and scarce interceptors for American-made Patriot air defense systems.
The whole plot involving the alleged RM-48U and the converted S-400 launchers may just be a Ukrainian propaganda stunt as there is no physical evidence for any of these claims.
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this is pure desperation coming from russia and a bad military doctrine which states that this war can be won via air strikes. as long as ukraine is able to maintain the front line russia can launch as many missiles as it likes they will not break ukrainian resolve
wow! the globalist puppets of concentration camp ukraine may exist to prove there is no limit to human stupidity. is this a ratclifff cia plan ?