that article is talking about the next gen system not the S-400. Some sources already give it the S-500 designation.

the small missile is 700lb and has an height limit of 30km or something like that. The big missile is many times larger.

considering the small size of the warhead on the small S-400 missile a KKV capability is all but guaranteed on the larger missile, the small missile probably has it too, unless you think the 24kg warhead makes sense otherwise (older missiles had warheads 3x the size). The 24kg warhead is just a “lethality booster” probably and not the main kill mechanism.

actually that doesnt answer the question in part because it leaves out the big missile. Also, as SAM’s go 24kg is amazingly light so it might not rule out direct kill against ballistic targets. On the PAC system 73kg was standard and what does “controllable engagement” field really mean? Can it do direct kill against ballistic targets or not? With such a small warhead it might be capable of direct kill against ballistic targets but they might opt for fragmentation against thin skilled aircraft to maximize the probability of kill in those cases (Im assuming with direct kill a hit will always be less probable). A 24kg warhead simply wont do much to stop a ballistic missile if it isnt direct kill and in that case the limited ABM capabilities of the system are basically a lot of hype. It will knock the incoming missile/warheads out of their CEP but it wont destroy the incoming warheads. PAC-2 is a failure almost entirely because its not a direct kill system. What about the “big missile?”

starting from scratch does not mean starting from 1985 level technology today. Thanks to globalization you can import used fabrication technology that is 36 months behind the latest and greatest fairly easily. The real question is why do this when you can just import or smuggle better chips and not have the infrastructure expense? A big suitcase full of the things will last a long time. But the Russkians seem committed to developing a domestic GAAS capability probably because its crucial for communications systems today more so than because its crucual for radars. Sukhoi for one still feels that the the performance you can get out of modern PESA designs can be almost as good as AESA level performance but cheaper. They are probably not far off. The raw power of the 20kw Irbis will leave many an AESA design looking like garbage.

Mikron got serious government attention back in January. Ivanov toured the plant, investment was promised, orders were promised. Sistema is well run and is not happy with the state of its chip business. They are not content with boxing other peoples chips forever. They feel they can compete with tier 2 Taiwanese and Korean players and the money is flowing to them so they may be right. I suspect in 10-15 years nobody will be talking about the inferiority of Russian electronics. Intel bough the best Russian chip design house a few years ago. Mikron was the Soviet #2 and was less involved in design than actual production. People forget that at the start of the computing age there was no gap between the US and the USSR. The gap only became obvious around 1967 and it became monstrously big only in the late 70’s.

yeah, I think the confusion is that the Rif-M upgrade is something new when in fact its a VERY old upgrade and has been the standard for a decade so there is no real upgrade of which to speak, what the Chinese didnt get was software.

As far as Russia is concerned money may no longer be a problem but intellectual capital now is with the mean age of design bureau staff fast approaching 50 (it may actually be over 50 now)! Young engineers exist in much smaller numbers are more likely to specialize in areas like software and NOT rocket engines and are more likely to leave the country. Also, while they can import cheap labor from the CIS, the CIS countries have education systems that are as good as dead for the most part. There are few brains to imports from the CIS (with the possible exception of Ukraine and Belarus, but they have their own shortages).

Also, the shortage of skilled tradesmen is even worse than the shortage of engineers. Skilled machinist work may well have to go to China because there are not enough CNC trained machinists in Russia to do even the work today. Welders, tool and die makers, metalurgists are also in short supply. GDP has grown 6% a year but salaries have grown 10% because there is a shortage of labor. Sukhoi may well have to send work to India because there are not enough Russians to actually do it. You have unemployment of 7% in Russia but among skilled workers it is closer to zero, its the unskilled and agricultural workers who are still seeing 20% unemployment levels, but these workers are basically functionally illiterate and many are CIS migrants who arent even legal.

Additionally to much talented is being attracted away from the design bureaus to do less noble things like join the FSB or work at a bank. You have top notch engineers in Russia today working on IPO issues and not missiles. Jobs at Almaz-Antei are not as attractive as jobs at Sberbank or Gazprom.

the MiG-29’s major problem was never its airframe but rather its mediocre radar, that problem has long since been fixed though admittedly the AESA on the F-18 is still about 2-3 years ahead of whats on this MiG-35. But for Russian electronics to have gone from being 10 years behind to 2-3 is rather impressive. But thats globalization for you.