OSINT-analyst Airbus/Ben-Reuter has published images, the study of which allows us to conclude that the russian military has placed a battery of its rare medium-range S-350 SAM system in the city of Gatchina (Leningrad Region). Why exactly the russian military put these system there is quite easy to guess from the "geographical" context - the city of Gatchina is located near St. Petersburg, where SPIEF-2023 is currently taking place. There, in particular, vladimir putin, the helmsman of the russian federation, has just made his notorious speech.
In view of this, it can be assumed that it was precisely to protect the head of state that the russians used these rare SAM system, what could have been removed from the front-line zone.
Read more: Ukraine Gets New Air-Defense Aid from Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA at Ramstein Summit
Previous mentions of the S-350 generally date back to August 2022. Then, as Defense Express told, the russians disclosed that they use these SAM systems to protect the Centralny front-line airfield in Taganrog, where Su-25SM attack aircraft were then based. And this can be considered the only known case when the russians used the S-350 to protect objects, at least in the front-line zone.
The russian Armed Forces adopted the S-350 only in 2020, and by the end of 2022, the Russian military had only six launchers of this air defense system (the division needs 12).
12 anti-aircraft missiles are placed on one SAM launcher of this type. The characteristics of the S-350 system seem to allow firing at the same time up to 8 targets, destroying aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 60 km and ballistic targets at a range of up to 30 km.
As Defense Express reported, earlier russian propagandists, citing “their own sources,” claimed that on the battlefield in Ukraine, the occupiers “for the first time used the russian mobile anti-aircraft missile system S-350 Vitiaz in automatic mode in combat conditions.
Read more: Ukrainian Air Force Reveals How They Managed to Intercept Kh-47 Kinzhal and Other Ballistic Missiles With Patriot
