On November 9th, the Russian news agency TASS quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying that Russia is building a new S-550 air defense missile system.

The Ministry of National Defense stated that at the joint conference on defense industry held in Sochi from November 1st to 3rd, President Putin emphasized the importance of rapidly developing Russia's air defense systems, especially the S-350, S-500, and S-550 systems. But the Ministry of National Defense has not disclosed any details about the S-550.

On November 1st, Putin announced at the meeting that the Russian army will gradually install the latest S-500 air defense missile system. The Director of the Russian Federal Military Technical Cooperation Agency, Shugaev, stated that the S-500 air defense missile system may be sold to India and China, but will be prioritized for installation in the Russian armed forces.

The S-500 (or 55R6M "Triumph M") air defense missile system, codenamed "Prometheus", is the fifth generation air defense and anti missile system launched by the Russian company Diamond Antai after the S-400. In the design of S-500, the principle of separating anti aerodynamic target (air defense) and anti ballistic target (anti missile) tasks was adopted.

Source: Aerospace Defense