The Swedish defense company Saab, which has been supporting Ukraine in the military field, has released a video demonstrating the combat capabilities of the RBS-15 missile against components of Russia’s S-400 air defense system, as well as the destruction of large surface warships.
The missile can be launched from naval vessels, ground-based launchers, and JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.
RBS-15 Mk4 Gungnir: from a 1980s legacy to a modern weapon
The upgraded RBS-15 Mk4 Gungnir is not an entirely new development. It was ordered for the Swedish Armed Forces in 2017 as an evolution of a missile that has been in service since the 1980s.
However, the new video clearly shows the types of targets the missile is designed to counter today: long-range integrated air defense systems and heavily protected surface platforms.
Destroying the radar backbone of Russia’s air defense
In the video, a pair of JAS 39 Gripen fighters strike air defense elements, including the Russian 91N6 surveillance radar, a key component of the S-400 system.
This radar offers 360-degree coverage with a stated detection range of up to 600 km, playing a central role in detecting aerial targets. Along with the radar, one of the system’s launchers is also destroyed, illustrating a scenario in which an air defense battery is completely “blinded” at an early stage of a conflict.
Maritime phase of the scenario: destruction of Chinese destroyers
The naval targets shown in the video are not Russian ships, but rather Chinese Type 052D guided-missile destroyers, which are among the most modern surface combatants of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
Saab even specifies a real hull number, 172, which belongs to the destroyer Kunming, the first ship of this class. The footage depicts defensive measures, including electronic countermeasures and attempts to intercept incoming missiles with the Type 730 close-in weapon system, all of which prove ineffective. Ultimately, all missiles reach their targets.
Why not Russia: the absence of modern destroyers in the Russian Navy
Each destroyer shown in the video has a displacement of approximately 7,500 tons and is equipped with 64 universal vertical launch cells, making them full-fledged ocean-going combat platforms, UNIAN reports.
Saab did not depict Russian missile destroyers for a simple reason: none exist in the Russian Navy. The only comparable concept is the unbuilt Project 23560 “Lider”, which never progressed beyond the design stage and remains a symbol of the gap between Russia’s naval ambitions and its actual capabilities.
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