The reason why Russia's S-400 was hit by Ukraine's ATACMS missile

The Russian Defense Ministry said that on the night of November 23, the Ukrainian army launched five ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles at the position of the S-400 battalion near the Lotarevka residential area in Kursk province. "The Pantsir air defense system on combat duty shot down three ATACMS missiles, the remaining two hit the target, causing casualties and damaging a radar station of the S-400 complex," the agency admitted.

The Russian military added that Ukrainian forces launched eight more ATACMS missiles at the Kursk-Vostochny airbase in Kursk province on November 25. "The S-400 and Pantsir systems on duty shot down seven missiles, one missile hit the target. Two servicemen were slightly injured, and some structures were slightly damaged," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military said a coordinated attack on the night of November 23 hit a radar station of the S-400 system. Ukrainian media said the attack killed eight people, including five military personnel operating the system and three employees of Almaz-Antey Corporation, the manufacturer of the S-400 system.

Video posted on social media shows flashes of light and multiple explosions at the Kursk-Vostochny base on November 25, which appear to be submunitions released from the ATACMS missile's cluster warhead.

Military pageWar ZoneThe US military said the attack on Kursk-Vostochny airport did not cause significant damage, as the Russian air force had stopped using the site and evacuated its aircraft long ago.

The Fighter Bomber account of a Russian fighter pilot also gave similar information, saying that the most valuable equipment in the area were the S-400 and Pantsir-S1 air defense systems protecting the airport, and emphasizing that they were not damaged in the Ukrainian raid.

The Ukrainian military said the Russian S-400 system deployed in Lotarevka operates in anti-ground mode and has attacked fixed targets on Ukrainian territory.

Boyko Nikolov, military site writerBulgarian MilitaryThe S-400's radar systems are not activated in anti-ground mode, significantly limiting the ability to detect and counter incoming threats such as ATACMS missiles.

"The Russian military said that the Panstir-S1 system fired to intercept the ATACMS missile, which seems to indirectly confirm the information. Pantsir variants are optimized for targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles, while the main weapon to counter ballistic missiles, the S-400, did not participate in the battle," Nikolov commented.

However, even when operating in air defense mode, the S-400 system faces many challenges in its efforts to counter ATACMS missiles. Nikolov said that ATACMS missiles have high speeds and low flight trajectories, significantly limiting the time for radar to detect and identify targets.

"The S-400 is capable of attacking multiple targets at the same time, but physical limitations mean that the fire radar can only track a certain direction of attack during combat and requires additional support from a radar network. A single S-400 complex will not have enough time to detect all threats if faced with a coordinated attack from multiple directions," Bolinov said.

Meanwhile, the military siteMilitary WatchThe US asserted that the S-400 system has demonstrated its ability to shoot down ATACMS missiles with a high success rate in the past, typically when it participated in the battle on the night of November 25.

"During the November 23 raid, the S-400 system was undergoing maintenance and repair, not in combat mode. It seems that the Russian forces were caught by surprise, possibly because Ukraine had never launched such an attack in Kursk province and they thought the enemy did not know the S-400 system was being repaired there," Military Watch said.

According to Military Watch, the West has deployed equipment to help Ukraine locate Russian long-range air defense systems such as the S-400 and S-300. The US Air Force confirmed in June that it had sent a long-range reconnaissance UAV RQ-4A to the Black Sea to spy on Russian air defense positions.

US F-35 fighter jets stationed in Germany, along with a massive network of 800 satellites and NATO ground forces, also play an important role in helping Ukraine gather intelligence on Russia's air defense network.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had controlled the situation in the areas hit by ATACMS missiles and was "preparing appropriate retaliatory measures." Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that those behind the attacks on Russian territory would face "adequate punishment."