Israel’s Jerusalem Post reports that Russia’s S-500 Prometey air defense missile system is capable of detecting fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters at long range.

According to sources cited by the newspaper, the S-500 is equipped with new detection technologies that allow it to register the presence of an F-35 from distances measured in hundreds of kilometers. At the same time, the report stresses that detection alone does not equate to an assured kill: reliably tracking such a target and guiding weapons capable of striking it remains an extremely complex task.

Once all stages of preparation are completed and the system enters full combat duty, the S-500 is expected to engage not only aerodynamic targets but also satellites and other objects in near-Earth space. The Jerusalem Post notes that this combination of capabilities places the Prometey among the most dynamic and multifunctional air and missile defense systems ever developed in Russia.

Despite this, far less is publicly known about the S-500 than about its predecessors, the S-300 and S-400 systems, which have been widely deployed and used in multiple versions since the mid-1980s.

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov announced that the country’s first regiment equipped with the S-500 air defense missile system had entered combat duty.

The S-500 is Russia’s newest domestically developed air defense complex, designed to intercept and destroy a broad range of threats — from ballistic missiles to objects in low Earth orbit. Belousov emphasized that bringing the system into service significantly strengthens the nation’s defenses and expands its air and missile defense capabilities.