Pantsyr-SA - Arctic
In yet another reminder how close the North Pole is to becoming a battleground, Russia is beefing up its military capabilities in the Far North, including a special Arctic antiaircraft missile system. A new anti-aircraft missile-cannon complex (ZRPK) for the Arctic “Shell-SA”, as well as a new version of the “Short-range Shell” will arrive in the Russian troops in the near future. This was told to the "Russian News Service" by the commander of the air defense and missile defense forces - deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Viktor Gumenny in August 2016.
Three Pantsir-S air defense systems were tested for three years in the Far North. According to Yuri Savenkov, deputy director general of the development company, the Tula Design Instrument Engineering Bureau in the field of air defense, representatives of the manufacturer of the Pantsir air defense factory are now in the Arctic with the military. They study on-site the features of regional conditions in order to take all this into account when creating the Arctic modification of the complex.
The Pantsir air defense missile defense plant are now in the Arctic with the military. They are studying on the spot the peculiarities of regional conditions in order to take all this into account when creating the Arctic modification of the complex. Yuri Savenkov, representatives of the manufacturer of the Pantsir air defense missile, added that the Arctic modification of the air defense system was initially be presented to the general public at the Victory Parade in Moscow in 2017.
Complexes in service with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were completely white. In this regard, assumptions were made as to why the Arctic anti-aircraft systems will be demonstrated in such a color version. One of the opinions is that after the combat training use of the complexes in the northern latitudes, they decided to change the color option to white (without additional graphic elements). Another opinion belongs to the category: "You do not need to look for a black cat in a black room, especially if it is not in it." We are talking about the fact that the same characteristic black-and-gray elements will be applied later (immediately before the parade) - together with the formal version of the design in the form of a red star and St. George’s ribbon.
The Russian military is portraying the polar buildup as part of an overall strategic regrouping. “The General Staff concentrates the basic efforts on increasing combat capabilities, the capabilities of the Armed Forces, deploying and reinforcing the groupings of forces in the western, south-western and Arctic strategic directions,” said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the General Staff’s Main Operations Department. Given Russia’s geography, and its vast experience in fighting in frozen climates, it’s not surprising that Russia has developed special Arctic weapons. Nonetheless, Moscow is not exactly being secretive about its Arctic buildup.
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