Russian S-500 air defense missile serial production set to start in second half of 2020.

Serial production of Russia’s newest S-500 air defense missile system will start in the second half of 2020, Sergey Chemezov, head of the Rostec Corporation, said in an interview to the RBK newspaper. "I think that the serial production will start in a year," Chemezov declared.

S-500 air defense missile system (Picture source: via Quora)

According to Sergey Chemezov, head of the Rostec Corporation, in the next five years Russia will not export this weapon system because "we must in the first place provide our armed forces with this weapon and only after we do this its exports may become possible." Also, Chemezov pointed out that demand for the S-400 is currently high.

In late April, Russian Minister for Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said that the development of the S-500 system is close to completion. Previously, the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu revealed that deliveries of this weapon to the troops would start in 2020. Specialist training for its operation has been underway since 2017 at the Aerospace Force Military Academy base in Tver.

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