Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Ground Forces have been refining the employment and use of their air defense systems, seeking thereby to enhance their interception capabilities against drones. One such example is the short- and very short-range Pantsir air defense system, which has undergone improvements, among which the increase in the number of missiles it can employ stands out. This is largely due to the adoption of new mini-missiles designed to counter drones, which are being supplied in greater numbers to the Russian Ground Forces, as Rostec confirmed days ago with the delivery of the first batch of this class in 2026.
According to the state consortium Rostec, “… the ‘High-Precision Systems’ holding of the Rostec State Corporation, on the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day, supplied the Russian Ministry of Defense with a new batch of guided anti-aircraft missiles (SAMs) intended for systems of the Pantsir family. The troops received both standard missiles and short-range interception guided anti-aircraft missiles.”
Although no quantities or specific missile types were detailed, the mention of mini-missiles suggests that the batch delivered to the Ground Forces would consist of TKB-1055 mini-missiles, which complement the “traditional” 57E6 already used by the Pantsir systems and whose primary employment hypothesis would be drones and low-performance unmanned vehicles.
Among their main characteristics, and their impact on the Pantsir system, the Russian state consortium highlighted the increase in the number of available shots for the system in order to counter large-scale drone attacks.
“The short-range SAMs for the ‘Pantsir’ make it possible to increase the ammunition load on the launcher rails from 12 to 48 missiles. At the same time, the number of means of destruction may vary depending on the combination between standard guided anti-aircraft missiles and mini-SAMs,” Rostec stated.
As for the characteristics of the TKB-1055 mini-missiles, these would have a shorter range compared to the 57E6, with an estimated range of up to seven kilometers, as opposed to nearly twenty kilometers for the latter.
Finally, the improvements introduced to the Pantsir are not limited solely to these new anti-drone mini-missiles, but also include a whole series of upgrades to address the new threats of today’s battlefield, embodied in the Pantsir-SMD-E version, which was presented at the ARMY 2024 Forum and is being introduced into the Russian Armed Forces.
*Photographs used for illustrative purposes.
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