The current trends in the development of the navies, force the maritime powers to equip their ships with reliable assets to counteract air threats, i.e. cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems, helicopters and planes. A sophisticated system of countering practically all the possible aerial kill assets has been developed in Russia. ‘Pantsir-ME’ can be installed on most Russian warships and is very well fit for ships manufactured by other countries. I am confident that it has very good export prospects in the Arab countries, South-East Asia and Latin America,” said Rosoboronexport’s Director General Alexander Mikheev.

The Pantsir-ME air-defence missile and artillery system can be set up on ships with water displacement of more than 300 tons. The system provides a reliable protection of vessels from all the existing and prospective air assault weapons in the whole spectrum of their combat capabilities with an unconditional probability of kill, which is practically equivalent to one, including low-flying anti-ship missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Pantsir-ME air-defence missile and artillery system features:

• highly effective combination of armament;
• automated, multichannel, highly-accurate fire control system;
• short time of response;
• substantial missile load;
• high jamming immunity;
• automation of combat processes.

“Currently the Pantsir-ME air-defence missile and artillery system has no direct countertypes in the world market in the segment of shipborne air defence systems, and such will hardly pop up in the near future,” noted Sergey Abramov, the Industrial Director of the Armaments cluster in the Rostec State Corporation.

The system is capable of simultaneous firing at four targets attacking the ship while the kill zone for guided anti-aircraft missiles reaches 20 kilometers in distance and up to 15 kilometers in height. Besides, Pantsir-ME can first utilise its missile weapons, and then, in case of a miss, the target will be hit by the artillery fire with a 100 percent guarantee.

The system includes a high-intelligent multimode adaptive radio-optical control system. All the stages of operator work - from the target acquisition to the firing - are completely automated. A combined use of the radio and optical control system provides for the all-weather and round-the-clock operability of the system. All this permits a guaranteed elimination of targets at long distances and in close proximity.

Pantsir-ME consists of control and combat modules, storage and feeding systems. Main armament: two 30-mm artillery machineguns, rails for 8 TLCs with missiles, a power drive and a radar-optical control system.

The high effectiveness of intercepting anti-ship missiles is explained by high performance tactical and technical characteristics of the Pantsir-ME air-defence missile and artillery system.