MOSCOW Russia will soon start making a new S-500 ground-to-air missile intended to fight off air attacks, the commander in chief of the country's air force, General Alexander Zelin, said on Wednesday.

“The research has started. We are going to soon start building these missiles,” the general said at a conference in Astrakhan, southern Russia, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

The missiles are intended to have a range of about 400kms and to be quickly deployed to counter any missile or air attack, the report said.—AFP