Invasion forces of the russian federation have lost two important components of an S-400 Triumf long-range air defense system, as indicated by photos shared by OSINT communities online.
According to russian sources, the Ukrainian army launched a precision strike that destroyed both a 5P85SM2-1 mobile missile launcher and most importantly, a 92N6A radar station from the S-400 system.
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Those are fairly rare targets of high priority. To begin with, this is only the second visually confirmed time a 5P85SM2-1 launcher gets annihilated, as we can see, beyond repair.
For reference, the first occasion was reported in November 2022, when this transporter erector launcher (TEL) got hit by a GMLRS missile fired by HIMARS. It became the first-ever combat loss of a 5P85SM2-1.
On the other hand, the 92N6A radar had not been destroyed previously which makes it the first confirmed loss of this valuable radar. Its purpose is to search, identify and lock the target, as well as guide the missile toward it. Hence, destruction of this radar paralyzes the entire S-400 battery.
We should also point out that the "official" range of the farthest-reaching S-400 missile, namely the 40N6E, is 380 km.
But the russian military bloggers stated that the S-400 system components were wiped off by HIMARS, a.k.a the US-produced High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which has a maximum range of 84 km for the GMLRS missiles, so far the only type of missiles for this system that Ukrainian Armed Forces have at disposal. It leads to the conclusion that the russian occupiers for some reason deployed their S-400 system this close to the front line.
Worth noting, such scarce and expensive systems as the S-400 are usually covered by another air defense weapon, for example, by Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft artillery and missile complex. The russians claimed that Pantsir is capable of shooting down Ukrainian GMLRS missiles (although this claim is dubious).
There is no information on whether one was assigned to shield the S-400 in this particular case. But if there was one, according to their logic, a Pantsir would be capable to protect the TEL and the radar from a HIMARS strike.
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