S-500: Russia’s Plan to Make the F-22 Fighter, F-35, and the B-21 Raider Obsolete

Key Points and Summary – Russia portrays the S-500 as a stealth-killer, but the harder problem is turning a faint, low-frequency “something’s there” cue into a precise, continuous fire-control track.

-Even if long-range surveillance radars can detect an F-22 or F-35, engagement-quality tracking and missile guidance are the real test—especially against fast aircraft using jamming, decoys, and tactics. Detection is not destruction, and fighters can exploit gaps, timing, and saturation effects.

-Still, any credible upper-tier, networked SAM complicates NATO planning and could blunt airpower in a crisis. If Russia sells it to China or India, proliferation and tech transfer could narrow U.S. margins in Pacific.

-Russia insists that its advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile system—and now the new S-500—has been upgraded to track and defeat stealth aircraft.

Russia’s S-500 Has a Message for NATO: Don’t Get Comfortable

The claim is as ambitious as it is unverified.

Russia’s S-500 air defenses do appear to present a threat to U.S. and allied fighter jets. The systems integrate advanced digital multi-node networking and employ precise, long-range radar.

These attributes enable the system to detect aircraft at greater distances on a broader range of frequencies.

However, detecting the presence of a stealth jet with lower-frequency surveillance radar is different from establishing a target track on a moving stealth jet with engagement radar.

Advanced S-500s might be able to detect that something is there, but they are less likely to be able to track and engage a stealth jet.

S-500 vs U.S. 5th-Gen Stealth (F-22, F-35 and Even B-21 Raider Bomber)

If the available specs of the S-500 are accurate, the system is a threat to the West.

RIA Novosti claims the S-500 has an operational range of approximately 370 miles and can detect and counter up to 10 supersonic ballistic-missile warheads flying at speeds of 4.34 miles per second. The most pressing question relates to the S-500’s networking range—the speed and fidelity of digital processing.

Radar nodes must be able to quickly share target track details across distances. Only an integrated system could establish a continuous track on a jet flying at high speeds from one radar’s field of view to another’s.

If the S-500 does operate with a range of 370 miles, it might be able to monitor airspace in Eastern Europe, which would complicate NATO efforts to maintain air supremacy in any engagement with Russia.

In the event of a potential war, this could offset Russia’s large air-superiority deficit relative to NATO.

NATO operates hundreds of F-35s positioned to easily acquire and maintain air supremacy against Russia’s small number of Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighters.

If S-500s could neutralize or at least greatly lessen the U.S. and NATO advantage in the air, it could change the balance during a Russia-NATO conflict.

S-500 to China & India? 

Sputnik has reported that Russia intends to sell the S-500 to China and India—a move that could influence the balance of power for the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific.

A sale of the S-500 could provide China with valuable technological insights. Even if Russia held back the system’s most sensitive features, Chinese engineers could study its radar, sensors, and integration concepts to enhance indigenous systems.

Over time, this could erode the technological edge the United States has worked to maintain in stealth, electronic warfare, and missile defense, especially if Chinese systems are designed specifically to counter U.S. platforms.

By selling the S-500 to China, Moscow would also deepen its military cooperation with Beijing and signal a more coordinated challenge to U.S. global influence.

A tighter Russia-China defense relationship could complicate U.S. strategic planning by forcing the Pentagon to consider simultaneous or linked crises in Europe and Asia.

This would strain U.S. resources and alliance commitments, particularly if adversaries perceived the United States as overstretched.

Finally, the proliferation of advanced air defense systems increases the risk of miscalculation.

As U.S. aircraft and ships operate closer to Chinese-defended areas, the chance of an incident or escalation grows.

About the Author: Kris Osborn 

Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.