Chinese Defence Today - S-300F / RIF Ship-to-Air Missile

China ordered two Altair Rif (or the improved Rif-M) air defence missile complexes from Russia in 2002. These systems are being installed on the two 8,000t-class Type 051C air defence missile destroyers currently under construction at Dalian Shipyard in Liaoning Province. Rif is the export version of the Russian S-300F ‘Fort’ (NATO codename: SA-N-6 Grumble) shipborne air-defence missile system. A shipborne (naval) version of the land-based S-300P (SA-10 Grumble) surface-to-air missile system, the S-300F was introduced in 1984 as a fleet air defence weapon to be deployed on the Soviet Navy’s missile cruisers such as Kara and Slava class.

Development of the S-300 air defence system was carried out by two design teams in 1969. NPO Almaz was responsible for developing the land-based variant and NPO Altair was responsible for development of the naval variant also known as ‘Fort’. Both systems uses the 5V55R missile developed by Grushin. The 5V55RM employed by the naval variant (‘Fort’) differs to the land-based variant 5V55R only in details of the launch container. The ‘Fort’ became available to the export market in the 1990s under the name ‘Rif’ (which means Reef in Russian). The improved variant using 48N6Ye missile is known as Rif-M.

The S-300F/Rif is more advanced and capable than any shipborne air-defence missiles currently deployed by the PLA Navy (PLAN). The semi-active radar homing 5V55RM missile is guided by an I/J-band phased array radar. The missiles are stored and launched from vertical launch systems (VLS). The computerised fire-control system is capable of directing 12 missiles to attack six airborne targets simultaneously. The missile relies on radio command during the initial stage of its flight and switches to semi-active radar homing mode when it is near the target.

The S-300F system in service with the Soviet/Russian Navy is supported by a number of radar systems, including MR-750 (Top Steer) target acquisition radar (D/E-band, 300km-range); Top Pair target acquisition radar (C/D-band, 200km-range); and 3R41 Volna (Top Dome) target tracking radar (I/J-band, 100km range). The Type 051C destroyers has been installed with the Top Dome radar, but it is not clear whether it will be fitted with other radar systems as well.

Missile length: 7.0m
Missile diameter: 0.45m
Missile wingspan: N/A
Missile weight: 1,480kg
Propulsion: Single-stage, solid-fuel rocket
Operating altitude: 0.025~30km
Operating range: 90km (5V55RM)
Max speed: 2.0km/sec (S-300PMU)
Guidance: Semi-active radar homing
Warhead: 70~100kg high explosive