More than three years into the conflict, the Russian Armed Forces have had to adapt their tactics and strategies to counter the main threat they face on the battlefield: the operation of drones of all types and capabilities. This has meant that virtually all platforms employed by the Ground Forces have been modified, to a greater or lesser extent, to increase their survivability.
In the case of Pantsir-S air defense systems, the amount of ammunition they can use has been significantly increased, in addition to the adoption of new launch systems and missiles optimized to counter unmanned aerial vehicles, giving rise to the Pantsir-SMD-E variant, which is being introduced into service in greater numbers.
Officially presented during the 2024 edition of the ARMY Expo, this variant of the Pantsir-S complex has been designed with improvements in target detection and tracking, as well as an increase in the number of missiles it can carry through a new missile launcher, complementing the existing one and the dual-cannon system.
In detail, as previously noted, the 30 mm 2A38M cannons and short-range 57E6 / 57E6-E missiles have been joined by the capability to launch up to 48 TKB-1055 anti-drone mini-missiles. According to the announcement made during the aforementioned ARMY Expo, these new missiles “…would have a shorter range compared to the 57E6, estimated at up to seven kilometers versus nearly twenty kilometers for the latter. However, their smaller size and range provide, in exchange, a greater number of missiles available to Pantsir operators when facing threats such as FPV-type drones, presumably at a much lower cost than using the 57E6.”
Regarding the process of incorporating these new capabilities, Rostec has confirmed throughout 2025 the provision of Pantsir systems in this new configuration to the Russian Ground Forces, along with respective missile batches.
The most recent report occurred a few days ago, when the Russian state consortium announced: “The ‘High-Precision Complexes’ holding of the state corporation Rostec delivered a batch of ‘Pantsir-SMD’ air defense missile systems to the Russian Ministry of Defense. In addition, a batch of combat vehicles of the ‘Pantsir-S’ air defense system was transferred to the state customer. The complexes passed the necessary tests and were accepted by representatives of the military inspection.”
Adding, with reference to the new mini-missiles: “The ammunition on the rails of the launcher of the latest ‘Pantsir-SMD’ complex can reach up to 48 mini-missiles. At the same time, the number of missiles in the launcher can vary depending on the combination of standard guided air-defense missiles and mini-missiles.”
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