The edition No.8, 2024 of the Armeysky Sbornik journal, an official monthly issue from the Ministry of Defense of russia, has been published online, and it features an interesting article about air defense for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). More specifically, it delves into the problem of air cover for the Yars ICBM from the Strategic Missile Forces of the russian federation.
In this text, the author analyzed multiple aspects, such as the prospective use of Peresvet laser systems for "anti-satellite protection," but the part we'd like to highlight is about less sophisticated short-range air defense equipment, the Tor and Pantsir-S missile systems.
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The problem raised in the article is the following. The experience of warfare between Israeli and Hamas forces after October 2023 shows that ICBM systems must be carefully guarded from "aerospace attack" weapons.
Accordingly, the priorities for setting up appropriate protection are: first, thoroughly camouflage mobile missile systems so they cannot be detected from space; then, deploy "laser counter-satellite systems" and electronic warfare equipment. The mentioned examples include russian Pole-21, Zhitel, and Krasukha-20.
Lastly, the final priority is to make sure close- and short-range air defense systems properly take care of any incoming threats. In hierarchical order, Pantsir, Tor, and Buk are listed: the Pantsir would defend Yars ICBM from hostile aircraft and cruise missiles, while the Tor would eliminate drones. The analyst points out both systems' quick reloading feature, useful for repelling waves of repeated attacks if necessary.
The Buk is listed the last because despite having good specifications, it takes much longer to reload.
On a note from Defense Express, the issues brought up in this journal hint to either of two tendencies. One is that the russian Ministry of Defense is articulating the need to pull some of its short-range air defense systems to secure the protection of intercontinental missiles. The other possibility is that it has already happened, and this is the explanation the ministry gives post factum.
A mention of the Peresvet, a russian "wunderwaffe" with uncertain operational status, adds a flair of significance and necessity of this sort of re-allocation of resources.
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