Just two weeks after Ukrainian General Budanov said that Russia had deployed its much-vaunted air defense system to protect the Kerch bridge in Crimea, Ukraine has reportedly destroyed it with the same thirty-year-old American-made ATACMS it was developed to protect against. If true, it's particularly embarrassing for the Russians as they've spent billions on developing the program and each S-500 system costs $600 million.

Source: Newsweek

Ukraine's forces may have struck Russia's newest S-500 air-defense system using U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles, according to a journalist in the country.

"It is reported that the newest Russian S-500 air defense system was destroyed by ATACMS cluster missiles. The cost of one of these reaches $600 million," Andriy Tsaplienko, a Ukrainian journalist, said on his Telegram channel, without elaborating on when or where the system was allegedly destroyed.

Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence agency, told Ukrainian media on June 12 that Russia had placed components of an S-500 anti-aircraft missile system in annexed Crimea. A military expert assessed earlier this month that Russia could have four of the S-500s—also known as the Prometheus surface-to-air missile system (SAM).

Russian media describes the S-500 as a new generation of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems capable of destroying ballistic and aerodynamic targets. Former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in April that the first samples of the SAM would be delivered to Russian troops this year.

American ATACMS ballistic missile entered service in 1991.
Russian brand new S-500 air defense system apparently failed at its only job of intercepting missiles, developed 30 years after ATACMS.
We should expect more raids and purges in the Russian military industrial complex. pic.twitter.com/0tX2gbJ8RE

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) June 28, 2024