System A-235 PL-19 ''Nudol'' () is a Russian hypersonic
anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to Missile defense, destroy in-flight ballistic missiles. They achieve this explosively (chemical or nuclear), or via hit-to-kill Kinetic projectile, kinetic vehicles, which ma ...
and
anti-satellite weapon
Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for Military strategy, strategic or Military tactics, tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has been utilized in warfare, a few countries (China, ...
system in development.
It is designed to deflect a nuclear attack on
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and other regions within
European Russia
European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...
. The main developer of the system is JSC Concern VKO
Almaz-Antey
JSC Concern VKO "Almaz-Antey" () is a Russian state-owned company in the arms industry, a result of a merger of Antey Corporation and NPO Almaz, unifying some of the national military enterprises, in particular, the developers of anti-airc ...
. The new system should replace the current one —
A-135. The two main differences will be that the A-235 will use conventional warheads and it will be road-mobile.
According to reports in early 2018, the system will not be equipped with nuclear warheads. According to Russian sources, the system will be deployed at points surrounding Moscow by the end of 2018.
The new PRS-1M (45T6) is a modernized variant of the PRS-1 (
Gazelle) and can use nuclear or conventional warheads. It can hit targets at ranges of 350 km and altitudes of 50 km.
The long-range missiles will most likely be equipped with nuclear warheads, while the others will have kinetic energy warheads. Testing of new missiles for the A-235 Samolyot-M system began in August 2014.
Design
Initially, the A-235 missile defense system was planned to have three echelons: long-range echelon with a missile based on the A-925, the medium-range echelon was the updated 58R6 firing complex, and the short-range flight were the PRS-1M missiles (the result of the upgrade of the PRS-1 missiles).
Tests
On 4 June 2019, the Russian Ministry of Defense posted a video showing the successful interception of the test target which was a test of a new anti-ballistic missile system in the form of a long-range surface to air missile. Though the nature of the air defense system which was being tested was not mentioned it has been widely speculated to have been a test of the S-500 Prometheus long-range surface to air missile system which entered early production earlier in the year. However, it also could have been a test of the A-235 anti-ballistic missile system for which tests have been conducted on since 2014.
The anti-ballistic missile system was tested at
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya Space, Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operati ...
, on 15 April 2020, at the ex-launch site of the
Tsyklon-2
The Tsyklon-2 (), also known as Tsiklon-2 and Tsyklon-M (known as SL-11 by the United States United States Department of Defense, DoD), GRAU index 11K69, was a Soviet Union, Soviet, later Ukraine, Ukrainian, orbital carrier rocket used from the ...
rocket.
On 15 November 2021, the missile successfully destroyed the
Kosmos 1408 satellite. The breakdown of the satellite caused
space debris
Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...
to form, which forced the crew of
ISS to shelter. The debris passed every 93 minutes.
The latest test was conducted on 2 December 2022.
"Russia's latest S-550 missile systems will serve as a mobile follow-up of the A-135 'Amur' - A-235 'Nudol' strategic missile defense system.".
[https://tass.com/defense/1362271]
See also
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S-550 missile system
*
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), previously National Missile Defense (NMD), is an anti-ballistic missile system implemented by the United States of America for defense against ballistic missiles, during the midcourse phase of ballistic t ...
*
Comparison of anti-ballistic missile systems
This is a table of the most widespread or notable anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems, intended in whole or part, to counter ballistic missiles. Since many systems have developed in stages or have many iterations or upgrades, only the most notabl ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:A-235 anti-ballistic missile system
Anti-ballistic missiles of Russia
Missile defense
Almaz-Antey products
Anti-satellite missiles