Pantsir anti-aircraft system on top of Ministry of Defence headquarters, Moscow. Twitter/@AricToler
New Delhi: At least two government buildings in Russia’s Moscow, including the Ministry of Defence headquarters, appeared to have Pantsir air defence systems installed on top of them by the Russian military.
According to the images shared on social media, a Pantsir missile system was installed on the roof of an eight-story building used by the Russian defence ministry along the Moskva River.
In a video, an education building in Moscow’s Taganka district, 1.5 miles southeast of the Kremlin, could be seen having an air defence system lifted onto its roof.
The reason for the apparent deployments still remains unknown.
But the missile systems could have emerged in response to a Russian bombing campaign that used missiles and drones to target infrastructure and cities in Ukraine. In the attacks, a large number of people were killed. And now the appearance of the missile systems could indicate that the Russian military leadership is concerned about attacks on their own cities.
The short-to-medium range systems are used to defend against aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles, according to the Guardian.
They can also be used against smaller targets, like military and commercial drones, which have proliferated on battlefields since Vladimir Putin began his extensive invasion in February.
Due to their elevated locations, the systems would provide protection in a ring around these sites and would have better overall fields of fire.
The concept of placing point defence systems like Pantsir around highly valuable and other extremely sensitive locations is not new.
Notably, the US military maintains a number of Avenger air defence systems in similar rooftop positions in Washington, capable of engaging a variety of aerial threats with Stinger heat-seeking short-range surface-to-air missiles and .50 calibre M3P machine guns.
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