The Pantsir-ME, unveiled to the public on June 28 during a naval show in St. Petersburg, is a shipborne version of the Pantsir-S missile system and could be installed on Russia’s next generation warships.
Reminiscent of a fighting robot from a sci-fi flick, the Pantsir-ME is capable of simultaneously attacking up to four targets flying at a speed of up to 2,240 miles per hour, with a reaction time of three to five seconds.
The naval version of the Pantsir-S can hit targets with missiles at a range of up to 12.4 miles and at an altitude of up to 9.3 miles.
The system has a feature to automatically fire artillery armaments if it turns out that a “target is not hit or not sufficiently hit” after a primary missile attack.
“The Pantsir-ME creates a 20 km (12.4 miles) anti-aircraft dome around the ship it’s installed on. That makes it an effective defense weapon in potential future conflicts,” the CEO of High Precision Systems holding company, Alexander Denisov said.
The system is also able to intercept missiles during rough seas, rain, the wind, and even storms. It is also more compact compared to its land-version and is covered with an anti-corrosive sheath to ensure its longevity.
The Pantsir-ME fires missiles with independently targeted warheads, which explode destroying their target with a “cloud” of razor-sharp steel rods.
A pair of six-barreled 30mm cannons with a rate of 5,000 rounds a minute add to the system’s impressive firepower making it a weapon to be reckoned with.
In an interview with Sputnik, Yuri Savenkov, the chief designer of the Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau in Tula (KBR), which developed the Pantsir-ME, said that the system can be installed on just about any warship, from aircraft carriers all the way to 500-ton missile boats.
Russia’s newest naval anti-aircraft missile system has already received export status and is being offered to foreign customers.
According to Alexander Denisov, which includes KBP, the company has already signed the first contracts to supply this system to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
