# Russian S-400 system

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 8, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635 "2018-10-08T01:19:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635/1 "2018-10-08T01:19:14Z")

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The Russian S-400 air defense system has been in the news lately. Turkey, India, and China are customers. The US is displeased and supposedly offered Turkey and India the Patriot system. How do the capabilities of these systems compare?

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635/2 "2018-10-08T01:52:09Z")

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the S-400 is an anti-aircraft system and the Patriot is primarily an ant-ballistic missile system.

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635/3 "2018-10-08T04:39:17Z")

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The Patriot PAC-3 has extremely limited range while the S-400 has very broad range.

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**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-s-400-system/822635/4 "2018-10-09T02:16:34Z")

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> [@Magiver](#):
>
> the S-400 is an anti-aircraft system and the Patriot is primarily an ant-ballistic missile system.

PATRIOT is a surface-to-air platform. The original PAC -1 was anti-aircraft oriented. If you go thru the variants section of the Wiki Patriot article, it has a very good description of the missile and system evolution. It’s used together with THAAD for area and range coverage.

> **[MIM-104 Patriot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot)**
>
> The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target," which is a backronym for "Patriot". In 1984, the Patriot system began to replace the Nike Hercules system as the U.S

The S-400 serves a similar role. [S-400 missile system - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-400_missile_system)

S-400 uses multiple radars and missiles in the same general configuration.

The PATRIOT has more real world testing against missiles and aircraft. The Russians are masters of math/algorithms for radar systems.