The archive now spans the full role stack
Foundry Brief now covers point defense, short-medium distributed systems, bridge layers, area-defense backbones, long-range peer benchmarks, and upper-tier strategic BMD in one live archive.
Visual Brief // Brief 22
Market map of the allied and export air-defense landscape
This is not one flat ladder of interchangeable SAMs. The live archive now spans point defense, distributed medium layers, national area-defense backbones, long-range benchmark peers, and upper-tier strategic BMD. The right way to read that landscape is by taxonomy first and source posture second.
The current Foundry Brief archive is now broad enough to map the air-defense landscape by role and source posture: allied reference spine, export reference layer, and qualified benchmark peers.
16 Mapped tiles
Live system cards currently used to anchor the market map.
6 Taxonomy bands
Role bands used to keep unlike systems from collapsing into one flat ladder.
3 Market lanes
Allied reference, export reference, and qualified benchmark-peer lanes.
4 Qualified peer tiles
Tiles whose public-source base is useful but more heavily qualified than the allied reference spine.
Source posture is not symmetrical
The allied spine sits on a stronger official-source base than the benchmark-peer lane, so the map has to show sourcing posture explicitly instead of pretending each tile carries equal certainty.
Taxonomy is more useful than a flat range ladder
Once the archive includes allied, export, and peer systems, the safer and more useful editorial frame is role, lane, and source posture rather than one ranked list of maximum-range claims.
Source-posture lanes
Read the map by role first, then by source posture
Allied reference systems, export reference systems, and benchmark peers do not rest on equally strong public-source footing. The lane split is part of the editorial point, not a decorative flourish.
Official-source base is comparatively strong and the live card relies heavily on direct official or customer-government material.
Live card is publication-safe, but the strongest view depends on a blend of official and carefully qualified external analysis.
Useful archive benchmark, but peer-system sourcing is thinner or more contradictory and should be read with extra caution.
Allied, Israeli, and U.S. systems that anchor the archive with the strongest official-source base.
Export systems with useful public sourcing and clear market relevance, but more variant mixing than the allied core.
Russian and Chinese benchmark systems whose public-source base is usable but more heavily qualified.
Taxonomy band
Point defense floor
Lowest-layer site defense against rockets, drones, and the cheapest high-volume threats.
Allied / reference spine 1 tile
Israel / United States (co-production) Iron Dome
Verified-heavy Point-defense / C-RAM floor for fixed sites and populated areas.
Designation
Iron Dome
Archive tier
Point Defense
Range
VERIFIED4-70 km (Tamir engagement envelope)
Altitude
UNAVAILABLENot published in official sources reviewed
Do not overread
Low-layer protection; not a substitute for area-defense or upper-tier systems.
Export reference layer 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Benchmark peer lane 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Taxonomy band
Distributed short-medium layer
Networked medium-layer systems for aircraft, cruise missiles, and lower-altitude air-breathing threats.
Allied / reference spine 3 tiles
Norway / United States NASAMS
Verified-heavy Distributed short-medium network for aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones.
Designation
National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System
Archive tier
Short-Medium Distributed Defense
Range
REPORTED~25 km class (AMRAAM baseline); larger envelope with AMRAAM-ER
Altitude
REPORTEDLower-to-medium altitude band
Do not overread
Medium-layer network logic is different from national long-range backbone systems.
Verified-heavy
Designation
IRIS-T Surface Launched Medium Range
Archive tier
Short-Medium Distributed Defense
Range
VERIFIEDUp to 40 km
Altitude
VERIFIEDUp to 20 km
Do not overread
Comparable to NASAMS in role, not to Patriot or THAAD in architecture.
Verified-heavy
Designation
Sky Sabre / Land Ceptor
Archive tier
Short-Medium Distributed Defense
Range
VERIFIED25 km class with CAMM; 40+ km class with CAMM-ER in Narew pathway
Altitude
UNAVAILABLENot published in official sources reviewed
Do not overread
Useful allied comparator in the medium layer, not a national long-range backbone.
Export reference layer 1 tile
Israel SPYDER
Mixed Mobile export short-medium layer bridging point defense and distributed area coverage.
Designation
SPYDER
Archive tier
Short-Medium Distributed Defense
Range
VERIFIED20-80 km family envelope depending on SR / ER / MR / LR variant configuration
Altitude
VERIFIED6-12 km in the current AiO SR/ER brochure; no clean family-wide normalized altitude figure is published for all variants
Do not overread
Variant structure matters; export-role framing is safer than one fixed normalized envelope.
Benchmark peer lane 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Taxonomy band
Bridge layer
Systems that bridge low-layer defense and upper-tier ballistic-missile architectures.
Allied / reference spine 1 tile
Israel / United States David's Sling
Verified-heavy Bridge layer between low-level defense and upper-tier strategic interceptors.
Designation
David's Sling
Archive tier
Mid-Tier Bridge Layer
Range
UNAVAILABLENot published in official sources reviewed (emphasis on target classes)
Altitude
VERIFIEDFinland requirement: minimum 15,000 m; maximum ceiling not published
Do not overread
Best treated as a bridge layer, not simply another medium-range SAM.
Export reference layer 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Benchmark peer lane 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Taxonomy band
Area-defense backbone
The backbone lane for national or regional air-defense coverage beneath the upper-tier strategic layer.
Allied / reference spine 2 tiles
Verified-heavy
Designation
MIM-104
Archive tier
Area Defense Backbone
Range
REPORTED~70 km class against ballistic threats (PAC-3 MSE); longer against aircraft
Altitude
REPORTEDHigh-altitude lower-tier BMD bracket
Do not overread
Interceptor mix and radar baseline matter; not one fixed single-envelope standard.
Verified-heavy
Designation
Sol-Air Moyenne Portee / Terrestre
Archive tier
Area Defense Backbone
Range
REPORTED100+ km class (public legacy Aster 30 descriptions)
Altitude
REPORTEDMedium-high / lower-tier BMD class
Do not overread
Legacy SAMP/T and NG evolution complicate simplistic like-for-like comparison.
Export reference layer 1 tile
Mixed
Designation
Barak MX
Archive tier
Area Defense Backbone
Range
VERIFIEDInterceptor family spans 35 km, 70 km, and 150 km classes; overall defended envelope depends on selected missiles and sensors
Altitude
UNAVAILABLENot published in official sources reviewed
Do not overread
Range claims depend on interceptor tier; do not flatten Barak MR / LR / ER into one number.
Benchmark peer lane 1 tile
Qualified
Designation
S-350 "Vityaz" / S-350E
Archive tier
Medium-Range Area Defense
Range
VERIFIED120 km against aerodynamic targets; 25 km against ballistic targets in current Rosoboronexport public data
Altitude
VERIFIED25 km against aerodynamic targets; 20 km against ballistic targets in current Rosoboronexport public data
Do not overread
Public export-operator and missile-subvariant data remain thinner than the allied baseline.
Taxonomy band
Long-range benchmark peers
Peer and export-reference systems readers expect in a serious global comparison frame.
Allied / reference spine 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Export reference layer 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Benchmark peer lane 3 tiles
Qualified
Designation
S-400 "Triumph" / Triumf
Archive tier
Long-Range Air Defense / Terminal BMD
Range
VERIFIED380 km class against aerodynamic targets; 60 km class against ballistic targets in current Rosoboronexport public data
Altitude
VERIFIED30 km against aerodynamic targets; 25 km against ballistic targets in current Rosoboronexport public data
Do not overread
Public headline range claims vary by missile and source; the card keeps the figure conservative.
Qualified
Designation
HQ-9B / HQ-9BE / FD-2000 / FD-2000B
Archive tier
Long-Range Air Defense / TBM Defense
Range
REPORTED200-260 km class across reviewed public sources, depending on domestic versus export-family variant and source
Altitude
REPORTED20-30 km class across reviewed public sources; reviewed official export-family copy does not publish one normalized figure
Do not overread
Domestic and export suffixes are not cleanly resolved in the reviewed official English-language set.
Qualified
Designation
HQ-22 / FK-3
Archive tier
Long-Range Air Defense / Lower-Cost Backbone
Range
REPORTED100-170 km class across reviewed public sources, depending on domestic versus export designation
Altitude
VERIFIEDUp to 27 km in official Serbian FK-3 service descriptions
Do not overread
The archive keeps domestic and export-range figures explicitly split instead of forcing one official number.
Taxonomy band
Upper-tier / strategic layer
Strategic or upper-tier ballistic-missile architectures, including explicit naval / fixed-site overlap.
Allied / reference spine 3 tiles
United States THAAD
Verified-heavy Upper-tier terminal ballistic-missile defense for theater-level defense geometry.
Designation
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
Archive tier
Upper-Tier BMD
Range
UNAVAILABLENot published in official sources reviewed (emphasis on threat class, not horizontal range)
Altitude
VERIFIEDEndo/exoatmospheric intercept capability
Do not overread
Purpose-built upper-tier BMD; not a routine aircraft / cruise-missile workhorse.
Israel / United States (cooperative program) Arrow 3
Verified-heavy Strategic exo-atmospheric interceptor at the top of the current public archive.
Designation
Arrow 3
Archive tier
Upper-Tier BMD
Range
UNAVAILABLENot published in official English-accessible sources reviewed
Altitude
REPORTEDExo-atmospheric intercept (protects against short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles)
Do not overread
Strategic exo-atmospheric role sits above standard GBAD and should not be collapsed into area-defense tables.
United States Aegis BMD
Mixed Strategic naval / fixed-site overlap node linking sea-based BMD and land-based Ashore architecture.
Designation
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense / Aegis Ashore
Archive tier
Strategic / Upper-Tier BMD
Range
UNAVAILABLENot published as a single comparable system envelope; strategic coverage depends on interceptor family, geometry, and sea-based versus Ashore configuration
Altitude
VERIFIEDCore SM-3 / Ashore mission is exo-atmospheric; no single normalized altitude figure is published for the full architecture
Do not overread
Naval and Ashore scope overlap makes this a strategic architecture reference, not a normal mobile battery tile.
Export reference layer 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
Benchmark peer lane 0 tiles
No live public card in this lane for the current archive.
- The current market map uses 16 live system cards spanning allied, export, peer, and strategic-overlap categories.
- Allied reference systems now cover point defense, distributed medium-range GBAD, area-defense backbones, bridge layers, and upper-tier BMD.
- Benchmark-peer cards can now be shown in the same map, but with visibly different source posture from the allied baseline.
- The public archive is strong enough to map role and category structure, but not to flatten every system into one apples-to-apples performance chart.
- Peer and export systems are valuable reference tiles, yet their public-source quality is not symmetrical with the allied core.
- Do not treat every tile in the map as a direct substitute for every other tile in the same row.
- Do not flatten domestic and export variants into one fake precision envelope when the live cards keep them split.
- Do not read the map as an operational employment diagram or exact engagement geometry chart.
This brief uses only the published system-card archive. Each tile inherits role, range, altitude, and confidence handling already normalized in `systems.ts`, and the source-posture lane makes the archive’s evidence asymmetry visible.
It does not rank systems by “best” performance, model real procurement market share, or imply that allied, export, and peer cards rest on equally strong public-source footing. It is a briefing-grade market map, not a universal comparison verdict.
This market map is an index into the live archive, not a one-page replacement for it. Open the underlying system cards when the role split or source posture matters.