183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment
Unit Identification and Mission
The 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (military unit 95043) is a surface-to-air missile regiment of Russia's Aerospace Forces (Air and Missile Defense Troops). Public reporting identifies the regiment as operating the S-400 Triumf long-range air defense system. Its mission is to provide continuous air defense of Kaliningrad Oblast and adjacent air and maritime approaches, detecting, tracking, and engaging aerodynamic targets and certain classes of ballistic threats.
Subordination and Order of Battle Context
Open-source reporting places the regiment within the 44th Air Defense Division in Kaliningrad Oblast, part of Russia's Western Military District air-defense structure. The division comprises multiple S-400 regiments commonly identified as the 183rd Guards and the 1545th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiments, forming a key layer of the region's integrated air-defense network alongside radio-technical (radar) and supporting air-defense assets.
Garrison and Deployment Area
The regiment is based in Kaliningrad Oblast. Media and open-source imagery have associated the unit with sites in the Gvardeisky District (Gvardeysk area) and other prepared positions across the oblast. Exact coordinates of the garrison, firing positions, and field sites are not officially published. Russian S-400 regiments typically maintain several prepared and alternate launch areas to support survivability, mobility, and continuous combat duty.
Primary Equipment and System Composition (S-400)
The S-400 Triumf system fielded by the regiment comprises a regimental command post (55K6 series), long-range surveillance radar (91N6 series), engagement radars (92N6), all-altitude detectors (96L6), and 5P85-series transporter-erector-launchers. Short-range point-defense systems such as Pantsir-S1 are commonly co-located to protect radars and launchers from low-flying threats and UAVs. The system is integrated via automated command and control to share tracks and tasking within the regional air-defense network.
Weapons and Engagement Envelope
The S-400 family employs multiple missile types with publicly stated performance envelopes: 48N6-series interceptors (up to approximately 250 km against aerodynamic targets), 9M96 and 9M96DM (short- to medium-range, roughly 40–120 km), and 40N6 (advertised up to 380–400 km). Engagement altitude and anti-ballistic performance depend on the missile variant and target profile; Russian sources indicate capability against aerodynamic targets at low and high altitude and certain ballistic targets at high altitude. Specific loadouts for military unit 95043 are not disclosed.
Regimental Structure
A standard Russian S-400 regiment consists of multiple battalions (divizions), each with an engagement radar, battery-level command elements, and a set of launchers, collectively providing several dozen ready-to-fire missiles per regiment. The exact number of battalions and launchers assigned to the 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment has not been officially published. Typical practice includes round-the-clock combat duty, dispersed firing positions, and procedures for rapid displacement.
Regimental Command Post (military unit 95043-P)
The designation 95043-P denotes the regiment's command post. In Russian unit notation, the suffix P refers to the command post element (punkt upravleniya). This element exercises command and control over the regiment's battalions, manages the S-400 30K6-series command system, fuses surveillance data from sensors such as the 91N6 and 96L6, and interfaces with higher-echelon automated air-defense control systems. Specific equipment configurations and the exact location of the command post are not publicly released.
Headquarters and Support (military unit 95043)
The headquarters of the 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment directs operations, planning, training, logistics, communications, and technical support. Typical support elements include a technical battery for missile preparation and maintenance, communications units for voice and data networks, security and perimeter defense elements, transport and supply sections, and medical support. Detailed manning, internal layouts, and exact subunit composition are not publicly disclosed.
Operational Role and Coverage
From positions in Kaliningrad Oblast, an S-400-equipped regiment contributes to a layered anti-access and area-denial posture over the southeastern Baltic region. Depending on the missiles employed, the system can influence airspace across the Baltic Sea and portions of neighboring states out to several hundred kilometers. Integration with regional surveillance assets extends detection and tracking ranges, supporting target handoff and engagement management across the division's air-defense network.
Activity Indicators and Public Milestones
Russian Ministry of Defense communications and regional media from 2016–2018 reported the deployment and assumption of combat duty by S-400 systems in Kaliningrad Oblast, followed by recurring reports of readiness checks, alert drills, and live-fire training at national ranges such as Ashuluk (Astrakhan Oblast). Publicly available orders of battle through 2024–2025 continue to list the 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment as active in the Kaliningrad region with S-400.
Infrastructure and Site Characteristics
Typical S-400 regiment infrastructure includes prepared launch pads with earthen berms, radar positions with possible mast systems for antenna elevation, vehicle parks and maintenance hardstands, ammunition handling and storage areas, and covered shelters for command and support vehicles. Regiments maintain alternate and field sites to complicate targeting and sustain operations under relocation, consistent with Russian air-defense survivability doctrine.
Information Gaps and Classification Caveats
Specific current coordinates for the regiment's garrison, firing positions, and command post; the exact number of battalions and launchers; detailed staffing and internal organization; and the precise communications architecture are not published in official open sources. Where such details exist, they may be classified. This assessment is limited to information that has been publicly reported and corroborated by multiple open sources.