At a briefing in Berlin, Russian defense minister, Sergey Ivanov, once again tried to sell the idea of a European missile defense (in the form of the S-300 and S-400 "missile defense" systems) to the German public. As if the Europeans have not said "thanks, but no thanks" already.
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Germany is set to take further steps in its MEADS missile defence plans later this month, I believe.
Would the Russian s-300 or s-400 systems have any advantages over the PAC-3-based MEADS system (when it is finally developed and deployed, that is)?
It's hard to tell how exactly S-300 or S-400 (which, as I understand, is just an S-300 with a better interceptor) would fare next to PAC-3 (assuming they are all of any good, that is). For one thing, interceptors in the Russian systems seem to use aerodynamic surfaces to maneuver. PAC-3 interceptors use small jets, which theoretically gives them some advantage. But I would guess not that much - certainly not an order of magnitude or anything like this.