Missile complex S-400 on guard in Kola Peninsula

Russian S-400 air defence missile systems roll at Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2016. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
Another Northern Fleet unit is equipped with the advanced mobile surface-to-air missile system.

In the course of 2017, a unit equipped with the S-400 air defence complex will become operational in the Northern Fleet, the Russian Armed Forces inform.

The complex is one of four of its kind, which is introduced in the Armed Forces this year, Interfax reports. The same number of new complexes is reported to have become operational in 2016.

It is not the first S-400 to be moved to the Kola Peninsula. Already in 2014, the Northern Fleet  informed that servicemen from Murmansk were undergoing training and testing of the new system.

In 2015, the missiles were for the first time on the display during the Murmansk 9th May celebrations and military parade.

With the new system, the missile forces of the region will add range and power to its already well-equipped weapon arsenal. The S-400 can simultaneously engage up to 36 targets with a total of 72 missiles. It can neutralize enemy aircraft at up to 240 km distance and enemy missiles at 60 km distance, according to Wikipedia.

The S-400, an upgrade of the S-300 family, is the new generation of Russian anti-aircraft weapon systems developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau. Russia currently has a total of 16 divisions with S-400 systems, based in six different regions. Each of the divisions have eight S-400 systems.

Murmansk Oblast has six bases of the Russian Missile Forces, located in Polyarny, Kola, Murmansk, Mochegorsk, Olenegorsk and Polyarnye Zori. Several of them are equipped with the S-300 systems.

The S-400 is known as SA-21 Growler in NATO terminology.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Canadian military trains to respond to Arctic earthquake, Radio Canada International

Finland:  Finnish Air force to take part in joint Finnish-Swedish-US military exercises, Yle News

Norway:  Norway patrolling Russia’s military activity in Arctic with new intelligence vessel, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia:  Paratrooper exercises over Arctic Russia, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden:  New security landscape in the Arctic, Radio Sweden

United States: U.S. general says Alaska military cuts not final without Arctic plan, Alaska Public Radio Network

Atle Staalesen, The Independent Barents Observer

For more news from the Barents region visit The Independent Barents Observer.

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