Missile complex S-400 on guard in Kola Peninsula

In the course of 2017, a unit equipped with the S-400 complex will become operational in the Northern Fleet, the Russian Armed Forces inform. 

The complex is one of four of its kind which is included in the Armed Forces this year, Interfax reports. The same number of new complexes is reported to have become operational in 2016.

It is not the first S-400 to be moved to the Kola Peninsula. The Northern Fleet already in 2014 informed that servicemen from Murmansk are undergoing training and testing of the new system.

In 2015, the missiles were for the first time on the display during the Murmansk 9th May celebrations and military parade.

With the new system, the missile forces of the region will add range and powers to its already well-equipped weapon arsenal. The S-400 can simultaniously hit up to 36 targets with a total of 72 missiles. It can neutralize enemy aircrafts at a up to 240 km distance and enemy missiles at 60 km distance, Wikipedia informs.

The S-400, an upgrade of the S-300 family, is the new generation Russian anti-aircraft weapon system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau. Russia currently has a total of 16 divisions with S-400 systems, based in six different regions. Each of the divisions have eight S-400 systems.

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Murmansk Oblast today has six bases of the Russian Missile Forces, located in Polyarny, Kola, Murmansk, Mochegorsk, Olenegorsk and Polyarnye Zori. Several of them are equipped with the S-300 systems. 

The S-400 is known as SA-21 Growler in NATO terminology.