Russia's long-range air defense missile systems are probably very famous in the world, but few people know how they are made.
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| Names like S-300, S-400 or in the near future S-500, are always mentioned as the fire nets protecting the Russian sky from all threats from the air. They are capable of intercepting almost all types of flying targets including ballistic missiles, with an effective range of up to 400km even when the target is at an altitude of more than 180,000m. Photo source: The National Interest. |
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| However, to achieve that power, we cannot fail to mention the special missile shells for these air defense missile complexes such as 40N6, 48N6DM of S-400 or 64N6 and 96L6E of S-300PMU-1. Of course, creating these missile shells is not easy, especially at the Avangard factory, the only place in Russia that manufactures missile shells for S-400. Photo source: Therussophile.Org. |
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| Avangard is one of the subsidiaries of Russia's Almaz-Antey Missile Corporation, and is considered the main contractor in contracts to supply or maintain missiles for the Russian Army's S-300, S-400 and S-500 air defense systems. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Established in 1942 and having gone through 75 years of construction and development, Avangard is one of the leading missile manufacturing factories in Russia. Not stopping there, Avangard is still being invested and supported by Almaz-Antey to expand the production scale of this factory to meet the growing demand of the market in the future. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Avangard's name is of course also associated with the types of air defense missiles it has manufactured, such as the V-750 missile line for the legendary S-75 air defense missile system that fought in the Vietnam War, or the V-600 for the S-125 air defense system, and many other names. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Avangard's main product lines are currently missiles for the S-300 and S-400 systems, or in the near future the S-500. The automation rate of this factory has also increased significantly recently, about 40% compared to 2014, when Russia's missile manufacturing technology standards changed. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| However, few people know that the initial starting point of Avangard was not to manufacture attack missiles but engines for aircraft, more specifically the U-2 biplane fighter. And it was not until 1950 that Avangard began to be converted to manufacturing parts for the Soviet Union's SAM anti-aircraft missiles at that time. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Pictured are dozens of missile tubes for the S-300 and S-400 systems inside an Avangard workshop. These tubes are designed to keep the missiles in the best condition against external impacts. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| A close-up of a missile for the S-300 air defense system manufactured by Avangard, which is still being completed before being loaded into the container. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Despite the increased automation, some steps at Avangard still have to be done manually to ensure the technical factors specific to each type of component. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Another corner of the missile manufacturing workshop in Avangard, this is where the completed missile shells are loaded into containers in preparation for shipment. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| These missile tubes have a shelf life of up to decades and before leaving the factory they must undergo at least 14 stages of quality control at the most stringent level. With the ultimate goal being that they can complete their mission after being deployed. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| The price of each missile is not cheap, it can cost more than a million USD, but the target they can shoot down is worth hundreds of times more than that. Typically, a US B-2 long-range strategic bomber costs about more than 730 million USD and Russia can only need from one to three S-300 missiles to shoot it down. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| In addition to serving the domestic market, the Avangard factory also carries out contracts to supply missiles for S-300 systems for export, and it is likely that the S-300PMU-1 missiles that Vietnam is using are also manufactured by Avangard. Photo source: arms-expo. |
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| Pictured is a 48N6 missile tube for the S-300 system, which has an effective range of 150-195km depending on the variant. Photo source: arms-expo |
According to Kienthuc
