Air Defense: August 8, 1999

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Russia says that tests are nearly complete for the S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile system. The Russians insist that the S-400 can shoot down any known aircraft, including stealth aircraft, as well as theater ballistic missiles. The S-400 uses elements of the S-300 system, but with a new missile that has a range of 120km and a maximum altitude of 30km. It carries a 420kg warhead. --Stephen V Cole

August 8; First 50 missions by B-1B bombers over Yugoslavia, 30 SAMs were fired at the bombers. Of these, 10 locked onto the US planes but all were diverted by ALE50 towed decoys. The Air Force claims that its new Information Warfare unit has been able to hack into Yugoslavia's air defense computer network, causing random failures and inserting false messages. --Stephen V Cole