Interesting point about the THAAD, I didn’t realize they didn’t bleed off energy from the Nike Zeus when they tested them at white sands.

I think the main point here about ranges (and specifications in general) from the US military is that they cannot be trusted. It seems like the US military low-balls all of the specifications on their systems. It’s not that they lie about it, just that they put arbitrary things out like (>100nm) when its true range could be something like 190nm.

Examples of this can be seen everywhere with US equipment. For example, I’ll start with the F-22:
Official documents state that the F-119 engines have 35,000 lbs of thrust each, even though it is known now that the real figure is closer to 39,000lbs thrust each. Same thing with the F-135 engines on the F-35…. official documents stated 40,000lbs, but it is known to actually be over 43,000lbs now. Max supercruise is stated at M1.5 on the F-22… but it is known to be around or over M1.72 … same thing with max speed (stated to be ~1.8-2.0M, but is known to be over M2.4). Same thing here with the SM-3 and THAAD. Same thing can be said about stated radar range in pretty much every american radar system too. Everywhere you look at you can find evidence of low-balling or down-playing of specifications of american systems.

Do the russians do the same thing as the americans (understating the capabilities of their systems and weapons), or do they overstate the capability of their systems and weapons in an effort to undermine the american military through politics by budget cutters in the USA?