You're reading: Russian Aerospace Forces reports new ABM tests to be held in next 2-3 years

MOSCOW – Tests of the new short-range anti-ballistic missile (ABM) of the Russian missile defense system will be held at the Sary-Shagan range in the next two or three years, Col. Ilgar Tagayev, head of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ directorate of military algorithms and programs of the missile defense unit, said.

“One or two test launches of the available anti-ballistic missiles are being held at the Sary-Shagan range annually to confirm their operational and technical characteristics. In the coming two or three years, tests of an anti-ballistic missile of the new generation being created in Russia will also be held there,” he said during a broadcast of the Ekho Moskvy station on Saturday.

The number of launches at the Sary-Shagan range will increase several times in the coming years, including owing to tests of the new missile, he said.

Speaking of currently available interception means, Tagiyev said that they have no analogues in the world. “It’s enough to say that its (the missile’s) velocity is no less than 3 km/s, which exceeds the velocity of a bullet several times,” he said.