The teams of Russian air defense troops have started to learn to operate the S-350 ‘Vityaz’ medium-range anti-aircraft missile system at the Gatchina training center in Russia’s northwest, the Defense Ministry reported.

“The first most advanced S-350 ‘Vityaz’ system of anti-aircraft missile troops has arrived for the Aerospace Force. It has arrived at the anti-aircraft missile troops’ training center in Gatchina,” the Ministry said, TASS news agency reported.

In Gatchina, the combat teams will be learning to operate the latest weapon system. In particular, the training center has already held an exercise to detect and eliminate a notional enemy aircraft, the Ministry specified.

“The combat team of the S-350 surface-to-air missile system demonstrated its skills, eliminated the notional enemy by electronic launches and made a march to a new positioning area,” the Ministry’s press office said.

Russia’s Aerospace Force earlier test-fired the S-350 ‘Vityaz’ surface-to-air missile system at a practice range in the southern Astrakhan Region during the system’s acceptance, the Ministry said.

The first set of this system was transferred to the Russian troops in December 2019.

The S-350 ‘Vityaz’ mobile multi-channel surface-to-air missile system has been developed by the Almaz-Antey defense manufacturer. The system is designated to defend state, industrial and military facilities and force groupings against the strikes of modern and future air attack weapons.

The system is capable of striking targets within a range of over 120 km and at altitudes of more than 30 km. The system can be deployed from a march within five minutes.

Almost 150 S-350 ‘Vityaz’ anti-aircraft missile launchers will be delivered to Russia’s Aerospace Force by the end of 2027, the Defense Ministry said.

“Until the end of the existing state armament program for 2018-2027, the industry is due to deliver 12 battalions of S-350 systems to the Aerospace Force’s surface-to-air missile troops. Each battalion includes 12 launchers of 12 missiles each,” the Ministry stated.

Each S-350 battalion also includes up to three multi-functional radar stations and a combat command and control post. Automated reconnaissance and target acquisition systems and combat vehicles of the Pantsyr-S anti-aircraft missile/gun system can also be assigned to an S-350 battalion, the Ministry specified.