Russia has unveiled a new air defense system to be used as the basis of a new generation of missile-intercepting weapons.

Russian television stations gave wide coverage to the deployment of the S-400 air defense system, a modernized version of a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile unit.

The S-400 can destroy targets traveling at up to five kilometers per second, including aircraft and medium-range ballistic missiles. Intercontinental weapons travel too fast to be intercepted.

Moscow is against Washington's plans to deploy elements of an anti-missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

President Vladimir Putin says the shield would hurt Russia's interests, but the US insists it is intended as defense against North Korea and Iran.

"The real effectiveness of this complex is its ability to destroy ballistic targets, ballistic missiles, aerodynamic targets," Vadim Volkovitsky, Deputy Air Force Commander in charge of anti-aircraft defense said.

Russia has been bickering with the US over Washington's plans to deploy elements of an anti-missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

A Russian Orthodox priest was shown on television blessing the new weapons at a deployment ceremony in the city of Elekrostal in greater Moscow. The systems will initially defend Moscow and central Russia.

Directors of the Almaz Marine Central Design Bureau, which developed the system, said S-400 has technical characteristics and advanced precision which would eventually outdo its American rival, the Patriot system.

Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Colonel General Alexander Zelin, said Russia expects the system to rapidly find its way into the EU's non-strategic anti-missile defense systems.

The ultra modern S-400 system is easier to use by crew members and can target moving subjects up to a range of 400 km. It can be used to target aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and winged missiles.