The A-135 (renamed to A-235) (

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

: ABM-4 Gorgon) is a Russian

anti-ballistic missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear weapon, nuclear, Chemical weapon, chemical, Bioagent, biological, or conventiona ...

system deployed around

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to intercept incoming warheads targeting the city or its surrounding areas. The system was designed in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and entered service in 1995. It is a successor to the previous A-35, and complies with the 1972

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT) (1972–2002) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballis ...

. The system is operated by the 9th Division of Anti-Missile Defence, part of the

Air Defence and Missile Defence Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

of the

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) ( rus, Войска воздушно-космической обороны (ВВКО), Voyska vozdushno-kosmicheskoy oborony (VVKO)) was a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation responsi ...

History

A memo from the archives of Vitalii Leonidovich Kataev, written around 1985, had envisaged that the system "will be completed in 1987 to provide protection from a strike of 1–2 modern and prospective

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

s and up to 35

Pershing 2 The Pershing II Weapon System was a solid-fueled two-stage medium-range ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable the ...

-type intermediate-range missiles". The A-135 system attained "alert" (operational) status on February 17, 1995. It is operational although its 51T6 component was deactivated in February 2007. A newer missile (PRS-1M) is expected to replace it. There is an operational test version of the system at the

Sary Shagan Sary Shagan ( rus, Сары-Шаган; kz, Сарышаған) is an anti-ballistic missile testing range located in Kazakhstan. On 17 August 1956 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union authorized plans for an experimental facility for ...

test site in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Testing

In November 2017, a successful test of the 53T6 interceptor was carried out. Target speed up to 3 kilometers per second (53T6 speed 3), acceleration overload – 100 G, preload maneuvering – 210 G.

Structure

A-135 consists of the Don-2N battle management radar and two types of ABM missiles. It gets its data from the wider Russian

early-warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum t ...

network, that are sent to the command centre which then forwards tracking data to the Don-2N radar. The

Don-2N radar The Don-2N radar (, NATO: Pill Box) is a large missile defense and early warning active electronically scanned array radar outside Moscow, and a key part of the Russian A-135 anti-ballistic missile system designed for the defense of the capital ...

is a large battle-management

phased array In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving th ...

radar with 360° coverage. Tests were undertaken at the prototype Don-2NP in Sary Shagan in 2007 to upgrade its software. Russian early-warning radar network consists of: * Daryal bistatic

active phased array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the ant ...

early-warning radars * Dnepr/Dnestr

space surveillance Space domain awareness is the study and monitoring of satellites orbiting the earth. It involves the detection, tracking, cataloging and identification of artificial objects, i.e. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentatio ...

early-warning radars *

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

early-warning radars *

US-KMO US-KMO (russian: УС-КМО), an abbreviation for Upravlyaemy Sputnik - Kontinenty Morya Okeany (russian: Управляемый Спутник - Континенты Моря Океаны) meaning ''Controllable Satellite - Continents, Oceans, Se ...

US-K Upravlyaemy Sputnik Kontinentalny (russian: Управляемый Спутник Континентальный meaning ''Continental Controllable Satellite'') or US-K (russian: УС-К) is a series of Russian, previously Soviet, satellites used t ...

and EKS early-warning satellites * Command, control, communications and intelligence services

Deployment

There are at least 68 active launchers of short-range 53T6 endoatmospheric interceptor nuclear armed missiles, 12 or 16 missiles each, deployed at five launch sites. These are tested roughly annually at the Sary Shagan test site. In addition, 16 retired launchers of long-range 51T6 exoatmospheric interceptor nuclear armed missiles, 8 missiles each, are located at two launch sites.

Successor

The successor system, dubbed 'Samolet-M' (and more recently A-235) will employ a new, conventional, variant of the 53T6 missile to be deployed in the former 51T6 silos. The new PRS-1M is a modernized variant of the PRS-1 (53T6) and can use nuclear or conventional warheads. It can hit targets at ranges of 350 km and altitudes of 50 km.

Gallery

File:Anti-MissileExercise2018-12.jpg, ABM missile silo under snow, transporter for 53Т6 missile in background File:Anti-MissileExercise2018-13.jpg, Transporter for 51Т6 missile File:Anti-MissileExercise2018-05.jpg, Don-2N anti-ballistic missile radar

References

External links

* . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:A-135 Anti-Ballistic Missile System Anti-ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union Anti-ballistic missiles of Russia Missile defense NPO Novator products Military equipment introduced in the 1990s