Air-defense systems with the highest engagement altitude
58 of the 83 air-defense systems in the WeaponSpecs database publish an engagement altitude figure, and the top 25 are listed here. Ranked on the published number alone, highest first, with no weighting and no composite score. The 25 air-defense systems with no published figure are not ranked, absent data is never treated as a low value.
| # | System | Engagement altitude | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S-500 Prometheus † | 200,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 2 | THAAD | 150,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 3 | HQ-19 † | 150,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 4 | Arrow 3 | 100,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 5 | L-SAM | 60,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 6 | Arrow 2 | 51,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 7 | Sky Bow III | 45,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 8 | Buk-M3 † | 35,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 9 | Lanza-3D | 30,480 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-08-24 |
| 10 | S-400 Triumf † | 30,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 11 | S-300V4 † | 30,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 12 | S-350 Vityaz † | 30,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 13 | Arman † | 30,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 14 | TRML-4D | 30,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-08-24 |
| 15 | S-300PMU2 Favorit † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 16 | HQ-9 † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 17 | HQ-22 † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 18 | 15th Khordad † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 19 | Khordad-3 † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 20 | Bavar-373 † | 27,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 21 | Buk-M2 † | 25,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 22 | Barak MX | 25,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 23 | Patriot PAC-3 | 24,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 24 | Patriot GEM-T | 24,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 25 | Patriot PAC-2 | 24,000 m | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
Compiled from public manufacturer, defense-ministry and reference sources. Published defense figures are approximations and are often stated under different conditions, so treat this ordering as directional rather than a tested result. A board is only generated where at least 5 systems in the class publish the figure. How we compile specs →
Other air-defense systems rankings