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S-200 [SA-5 GAMMON]

ZRK S-200 is an all-weather transportable long -range air defense system. Designed to combat various types of manned and unmanned aerial targets at speeds up to 1200 m/s , at altitudes from 300 m to 40 km and ranges up to 300 km in conditions of intense electronic countermeasures. The deployment time of the complex is 24 hours. It has a semi- active homing system : the missile is independently guided to the target by the radar signal y reflected from the target . The signal is generated by the SAM radar. The rocket has a passive homing head. That is, it is not able to search for a target. This requires “backlighting”, that is, the radar beam is first directed to a flying object, information about which is stored in the rocket’s receiving unit even before launch. Already at the start, the rocket is guided by the radio signal reflected from the target. And when the signal fails, the missile's homing head (GOS) scans space for another five seconds (first in a narrow sector, then in a wide one). If the signal cannot be detected, the rocket continues its flight until the fuel runs out, and at the end of the flight, the warhead contacts are closed. According to the United States, in the mid-1980s, the number of S-200 groups consisted of about 2030 units. In fact, these missiles covered all the strategically important objects of the USSR. A significant number of S-200 installations were located on the territory of the Warsaw Pact countries and the union republics of the USSR (including Georgia), and in the early 90s they were acquired by Iran. The S-200 is the largest of the existing anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) in service with Ukrainian (formerly Russian) air defense. The complex was created to combat air targets capable of climbing to high altitudes, to defeat them on approach to the state border. From here - both the maximum range and the maximum height of the defeat up to 40 km. Today, the S-200s, even in a modified form, are outdated, but at the time of their appearance in 1967, they forced the Americans to abandon the patrolling of spy planes over the territory of the USSR. The S-200 air defense system is called the goliath of the Cold War. The warhead of the rocket is 90 kg of a mixture of TNT with RDX and 37 thousand steel balls with a diameter of 6 mm (16 thousand weighing 2 g each) and 8 mm (21 thousand weighing 3.5 g each). When approaching the target, the charge explodes, and the buckshot flies in the shape of a cone with an angle of 120 degrees. The probability of hitting a target with one missile is about 80%. As a rule, they shot two with a probability of hitting 98%. The S-200 is also designed to carry a nuclear charge to destroy a group of enemy aircraft. In the mid-1950s, in the context of the rapid development of supersonic aviation and thermonuclear weapons. the task of creating a long-range mobile anti-aircraft missile system (PK), capable of intercepting high-altitude targets, acquired particular relevance. On 02 June 1958 he Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 608-293 set the task to develop a new multi-channel anti-aircraft missile system under the designation S-200. A.A. Raspletin(KB-1). OKB-2 GKAT under the leadership of P.D.Grushin was appointed the lead developer of the rocket. Designing ground equipment for the launching and technical position was proposed by TsKB-34 (Leningrad). ZRK S-200 "Angara" was adopted by the USSR's air defense forces in 1957. In the future, the anti-aircraft missile system was modernized: in 1970 came the S-200V "Vega" and in 1975 the S-200D "Dubnakh. The firing range was increased from 150 to 300 km and the height of the defeat from 20 to 41 km. Despite the impressive appearance of the S-200 missile, they had never been shown at parades in the USSR, and photographs of the rocket launcher appeared only towards the end of thee 1980s. However, in the presence of space intelligence, to hide the fact of the mass deployment of a new complex failed. The S-200 air defense system received the Western designation SA-5 "Gammon" by NATO. In the first period S-200s were accepted into long-range anti-aircraft missile regiments. Over time it was accepted as expedient to unite them under a single command with low-altitude complexes S-125. The launch division consisted of a launch control training cabin (KZ), six 5P72 launchers, each of which was completed with two moving units on rail tracks by 5Yu24 automated loaders machines, and power supply systems. The Rocket V-860 (5V28) was arranged in a two-stage scheme. The first stage consisted of 4 solid-propellant boosters installed on the sustainer stage of a rocket with a liquid rocket engine, made according to the normal aerodynamic scheme. The rocket was launched with a constant elevation angle (48 degrees) from the launcher and guided in azimuth. For two decades years, the S-200 air defense system was considered a secret and did not leave the borders of the USSR. In 1982, the Soviet leadership made a decision to supply two regiments of S-200 air defense systems to the Near East, and in 1984 an export modification of the S-200VE "Vega-" complex was transferred to Syrian personnel. In subsequent years, the S-200V3 air defense system was delivered to Bulgaria, Czechos!yakia, DR East Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Poland. By 1990 the dissolution of Warsaw pact and Germany reunification alloved the S200VE to fall into the hands of NATO, where it was exchanged for American "Patriot" air defense system only in 1993. To study combat opportunities, one of the S-200V3 complexes from Germany was delivered to the United States. In the mid 1990s the S-200 complexes were completely removed from the armament of the Russian air defense forces, but remained in service with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. There is no reliable data on the results of the combat use of the S-200 air defense system in local conflicts. According to some reports the Syrian complex shot down the Israeli Hawkeye aircraft, and the Libyan complexes took part in repelling an attack by American FB-111 bombers and possibly shot down one of them The girst manned aircraft reliably known to have been shot down by the S-200 air defense system is the Russian Tu-154 passenger plane. Making a flight from Tel Aviv to Novorossiysk, it was shot down over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001 during firing practice of the 2nd division of the 49th air defense corps of Ukraine. All 12 crew members and 66 passengerson Board were killed. On February 10, 2018, an the Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter that attacked positions in Syria was allegedly shot down by the S-200VE air defense system of the Syrian air defense. The plane crashed in the north of the Jewish state. On September 17, 2018, four Israeli Air Force F-16 fighters attacking targets in Syrian Latakia were fired upon by the country's air defense systems. When launching the S-200VE SAM missile, the missile homing head was switched to a more powerful target, asa result the Russian reconnaissance aircraft IL-20, which returned to the base Hamim, was shot down. All 15 Russians on Boardwere killed. Ukraine abandoned the S-200 complex in 2013. Its missiles would probably have been destroyed in the first minutes of a full-scale invasion, because of their stationarity, the Russians could have known where they were located. The occupiers also know how to silence the control channel of these missiles. On 30 October 2013, the last anti-aircraft missile division S-200B 540 of the Ivan Vyhovsky Lviv Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment, based in the city of Kamianka-Buzka, Lviv Region (VCH A-4623), ceased to exist. Thus, Ukraine was left without a single type of long-range air defense system. According to the plans for the reform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense has systematically withdrawn all S-200B long-range air defense systems from combat duty in recent years. The 540th regiment was the last unit where not so long ago the S-200B air defense system was on duty. In addition to it, the S-200 was on duty in the 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Kyiv), the 160th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Odesa), the 208th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Kherson) and the 50th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Feodosia , Crimea). The main reason for such a step is the moral and physical obsolescence of the complex. Thus, the air defense system is based on stationary, pre-prepared sites of a large area, the coordinates of which have long been known, which makes the complex an ideal target for modern high-precision means of destruction. two existing S-200B divisions Speaking about the possibilities of repair based on the technical condition of the S-200B anti-aircraft missile defense system, the representative of the Ministry of Defense noted that a significant part of the work could be performed by the Lviv Radio Repair Plant. Maximum speed 2,500 m/s (5,600 mph) Warhead HE 215kg Vo km/s R km(Flat Earth) Mo/Mb Reality 1.7146 300 2.140 2.69 Scud B 2.425 600 2.933 3.80 Al Hussein 3.1305 1000 4.01 9.900 10,000 80.82 (Round Earth) 7.1 10,000 23.33 https://tema.in.ua/article/7613.html">Hell in heaven and ends in the water."

S-200 [SA-5 GAMMON] - Tu-154 Shootdown

A brand-new training ground, test launches of missiles made in 1979, a plane in the right place at the wrong time, and an under-funded military performing its first missile test-launches in 18 months were among the many elements that set the stage for the apparent downing of a Russian Sibir Airlines Tu-154 passenger jet by a Ukrainian missile on 04 October 2001. All 78 people aboard the plane, en route from Tel Aviv to Novisibirsk, perished. The S-200 missiles involved in the exercises were made in 1979. The rockets have an operational life of 25 years. Oct. 4 was the first of two days slated for missile tests during a planned, two-week military training exercise on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. The exercises were scheduled to run from Sept. 28 to Oct. 12. The training ground, known as Opuc Cape, was actually operated by Russia. Russia leases the grounds from Ukraine. The autumn exercises marked the first time that Ukraine's military had used the Opuc Cape site. Ukraine had previously held similar exercises annually on Crimea's Chauda Cape, some 40 kilometers away from the new site. But last year's exercises were canceled after Ukraine's military accidentally sent a surface-to-surface Tochka-U rocket through the roof of an apartment building in Brovary, outside Kyiv, killing three people.

On October 4, 2001, a TU-154 was shot down by a Ukrainian missile fired by the S-200 air defense system during exercises at the Opuk training ground in Crimea. However, not a single person was convicted, and Ukraine, without waiting for the conclusions of the commissions and the investigation, paid the families of the victims $200,000 each. This money was not compensation and did not testify to an admission of guilt: the payment was called humanitarian aid. Kuchma's remark about the tragedy spread all over the world: "Look at Europe: are we the first or the last? There are tragedies on a larger scale." But this should be attributed to gloomy political blunders, and not to repentance. At the tactical air defense exercises at Cape Opuk in 2001, almost everything was for the first time in the history of the Ukrainian army. The exercises at Cape Opuk had one important task: to correct the mistake that occurred two years earlier during the Duel-99 exercises, when two S-200s fired at an air target went into the water. During the “debriefing”, no errors were found in the actions of the calculation. Air defense textbooks and the manufacturer of the S-200 air defense system guarantee a 98% probability of hitting a target with two missiles under normal conditions. So the leadership of the country's Ministry of Defense had something to worry about For the first time, in 2001 the exercises were conducted simultaneously (but not jointly, when there is a general plan of exercises) with the forces of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. For the first time, the Ukrainian frigate Sagaidachny and the corvette Lutsk, as well as the Russian ship Inquisitive, equipped with Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, fired at an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft at the Reis target (the same was fired at by the ill-fated S-200 air defense system) . During the exercises, they tested a new automated control system, on the basis of which they planned to combine the Air Force and Air Defense Forces, and for the first time tested a new radar system. At those exercises, the air defense forces for the first time acted on terrain with a difficult geographical relief, surrounded by dominant heights. Previously, the exercises were conducted at the Chauda training ground of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The exercises were moved to Opuk to improve security - this training ground is 60 km further from the resort of Feodosia. Opuk also has better objective control over the actions of units. Firing was carried out from almost all anti-aircraft missile systems that were in service with the MOU: S-200, S-300, S-125, Buk complexes, R-300 operational-tactical missiles; air targets were attacked by units of MiG-29 fighters. A total of 21 types of weapons were used. The apogee was the launch of the S-200 on the unmanned target "Flight". The firing of the S-200 complex at the Russian firing range in the Crimea, among other things, was an indirect demonstration of the strength and determination of the Russians. On October 4, 2001, a TU-154 of Siberia Airlines was operating a charter flight Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. On board were 66 passengers (51 Israelis, 27 Russians) and 12 crew members. The plane took off from Ben Gurion Airport at 7.58. At 9.39.20, the aircraft entered the zone of responsibility of the North Caucasian center of the Strela ATC and, according to the instructions of the dispatcher, took a height of 11.100 meters. At 9.46.10, the dispatcher received information from the crew of the AN-24 aircraft of Armenian Airlines about an explosion in the air and a possible crash of the liner into the sea. Two questions arise here: why did the S-200 miss and why didn’t it fall into the sea, but attacked the TU-154? The Ukrainian military appeals to the exercise control data: audio-video recordings and photographic recordings of everything that happened before and after the launch. It follows from them that after the launch of the S-200 missile, there was a breakdown in tracking by the homing head. Simply put, the missile lost the locator signal reflected from the target and became blind. Immediately, the rocket began to scan space in search of a signal. Perhaps it was after this that the rocket captured the signal, which was no longer reflected from the Reis, but from the TU-154. Flight "Siberia" was not regular, but charter. The aircraft's identifier did not respond to a request from Russian air defense, because it was turned off, so the missilemen mistook their civilian aircraft for an airspace intruder. The Russians declare readiness No. 1, and their radar gives target designation to the TU-154M. The TU-154 of Siberia Airlines crashed over the Black Sea. After the explosion, the ship depressurized and lost control. The last minute of the life of the 78 innocent people on board, including six children, became a hell in heaven. In the falling liner, fragments, fragments of the skin, fragments of cables flew. Fuel from the broken tanks flared up, flames and fumes filled the cabin. Crazed people, struck by the buckshot that riddled the plane, convulsively grabbed the rarefied air saturated with smoke, which only increased their suffering. An examination of the remains recovered from the sea showed that before the plane hit the water, people were alive and severely tormented, panic-stricken, suffocating, wounded, burning alive ... In the cockpit, the same picture: the radio operator only convulsively squeezed the communication lever, noise was heard and the unintelligible cries of the pilots.

S-200 [SA-5 GAMMON] - Surface to Surface

https://mil.in.ua/uk/articles/s-200-angara/ The S-200 [SA-5 GAMMON] is a Soviet-made long-range anti-aircraft missile system. It is designed to defend large areas from bombers and other strategic aircraft. The initial version of the complex was developed in 1964 and has been in service since 1967. As the most powerful anti-aircraft weapon, the S-200 air defense systems were deployed only on the territory of the USSR for a long time, their deliveries abroad began in the 1980s, when the S-300P air defense system appeared. The S-200 air defense systems were decommissioned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2013, the missiles from it were stored in the arsenals and were modernized. The use of modernized missiles of the Soviet-made S-200 anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) for striking ground targets is possible at a distance of up to 600 km. This was reported to TASS on 10 July 2023 by a high-ranking source in the field of aerospace defense. "Theoretically, the use of modernized S-200 air defense missiles for strikes against ground targets is possible at a distance of up to 600 km," the source said. According to him, despite the fact that the S-200 air defense systems were decommissioned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2013, the missiles from it were stored in arsenals and were modernized, "having received new" brains ". In the future, Ukraine will be able to independently produce missiles with a flight range of more than 1,000 km. This statement was made 08 June 2023 by the head of the country's Ministry of Defense Alexei Reznikov. "We have very good prospects for having Ukrainian missiles with a range of more than a thousand kilometers," Reznikov said at the "Dialogues on the Restoration of Ukraine" conference. The broadcast was on YouTube.

According to the head of the military department, a missile program has been officially approved in Ukraine, for which funds are already being allocated from the budget. Reznikov emphasized that Ukrainian enterprises are the executors of this program. At the same time, the Minister of Defense did not name the time frame for which, in his opinion, they will be able to establish the production of long-range missiles.

It is difficult to achieve a direct hit on ground targets with outdated missiles of the S-200 anti-aircraft missile system (SAM), with which Kyiv tried to strike on the territory of the Russian Federation on 09 July 2023. Their use is dangerous primarily for the Ukrainian side, since they can detonate even before launch, according to TASS military observer Vladimir Karnozov.

“The most interesting thing in the Ukrainian case is that formally this missile was written off a long time ago. The last samples were made at best in the 80s, 45 years have passed. They were written off for a reason, but because they became dangerous for themselves shooting - they can explode at the start, deviate at the start.<...> That is, these are missiles of long-decommissioned weapons of the Ukrainian army found somewhere in their warehouses," he said. The expert stressed that the designers have put into the rocket "a very large kinetic potential, it accelerates to very high, supersonic speeds."

Karnozov stated that the modernization of such a missile for strikes against terrestrial targets requires significant resources and financial investments. Initially, it was intended to destroy large and low-maneuverable air targets, such as early warning aircraft, for a direct hit, it requires a large-scale modernization of guidance systems.

"The difficulty is that the rocket accelerates to very high speeds and experiences large overloads at launch. Accordingly, the guidance system must be such that these features are taken into account. But guidance systems are quite expensive. Satellite navigation is cheap, but one satellite navigation with such "You can't get by with the characteristics of the missile. You need to install an inertial guidance system, and this is a very complicated and expensive process if you try to achieve a direct hit, and not just shoot somewhere," he said.

Among other things, the expert notes, the very launch of a missile for the Ukrainian side is associated with a large number of risks, since it is launched from a large and low-mobility towed launcher. "It is problematic to bring it to the front line, because it will be visible to the enemy. In addition, it takes quite a long time to deploy it from a transport position to a combat position. This weapon, apparently, was chosen simply out of hopelessness, because there was nothing else" he concluded.

It was reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to strike with S-200 missiles at targets on Russian territory, including the Crimean Bridge, but the air defense systems neutralized them. On Monday, the Main Headquarters of the Russian Aerospace Forces gave a report on what happened over the weekend. Chief of Staff Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov reported to the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, on the results of unsuccessful attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military on 09 July 2023 launched several rocket attacks in the direction of Russian regions. It immediately became known that one missile was shot down in the Kerch region, one between Donetsk and Kamensk in the Rostov region, two over the Bryansk region, 170 km from the border with Ukraine. Although a sawmill and several buildings were damaged, no one was hurt. According to preliminary data, the strikes were carried out by converted Soviet S-200 anti-aircraft missiles - initially there were reports of the use of shells from NATO countries. Kyiv attacked the Crimean bridge with three S-200 missiles. Viktor Afzalov, Chief of the General Staff of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of Russia, reported this to the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. "Three missiles that attacked the Kerch transport crossing and the Morozovsk airfield were destroyed by air defense systems. There are no casualties and no damage," he said. As specified in the Russian Ministry of Defense, objects in the Rostov and Kaluga regions were also attacked. Two S-200 missiles were destroyed by means of anti-aircraft defense, two more missiles were deflected by means of electronic warfare. There are no casualties or destruction.

Some Telegram channels drew attention to the unusual range of Ukrainian missiles and suggested that they were missiles supplied by NATO countries, including the British Storm Shadow. In addition, it was suggested that the target of the attack was the Desnogorsk nuclear power plant in the Smolensk region. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, made the toughest response to reports of a missile attack. If an attempted attack on nuclear power plants is confirmed, it is necessary "to consider the scenario of a simultaneous Russian attack on the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant, Rivne Nuclear Power Plant and Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant, as well as on nuclear facilities in Eastern Europe," Medvedev said. However, the condition for such a forceful scenario may be the origin of the missile from NATO countries. In this case, "there is nothing to be embarrassed about," concluded the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. On 10 July 2023, the Main Headquarters of the Russian Aerospace Forces gave a report on what happened over the weekend. Chief of Staff Viktor Afzalov reported to Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valeriy Gerasimov on the results of unsuccessful attacks on the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to him, three missiles attacked "the Kerch transport crossing (Krymsky bridge - TASS note) and the Morozovsk airfield" - there were no casualties or destruction. The strikes "on objects in the Crimea, Rostov and Kaluga regions" were carried out by Soviet S-200 anti-aircraft missiles, "converted into a strike version for the purpose of hitting ground targets." Two missiles were destroyed by Russian air defense, two more were rejected by electronic warfare. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Gerasimov instructed the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate and officials of the command post of the joint group of Russian forces to identify storage sites and launch positions for Ukrainian S-200s - "and plan their preemptive fire defeat." On the Russian side, the Chief of the General Staff instructed to take additional measures as soon as possible to protect against air strikes. On the eve of the missile attack on the Crimean bridge, the Ukrainian authorities acknowledged responsibility for the attack that took place in October 2022. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar, summing up the 500 days of conflict in the country, wrote in the Telegram channel: "273 days since the first blow was struck on the Crimean bridge in order to disrupt Russian logistics." Indirectly, the responsibility of the Kyiv regime was confirmed by the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasily Malyuk, on May 27. He announced the implementation of "certain measures" to "cut" Russian logistics. Ukraine’s attempts to shell the Kerch transport crossing in Crimea and Russian regions of Rostov and Bryansk on July 9 would have been impossible without the assistance from the United States and other Western nations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said that the Ukrainian military tried to attack the Russian territory with S-200 missiles. Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry called those attacks unsuccessful.

"Such actions would not have been possible without the financial, technical and logistical assistance of the US-led Western coalition, which is, in fact, a sponsor of the criminal activities of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s regime," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia's defence ministry said 12 August 2023 that Ukraine tried to strike the Crimea bridge over the Kerch Strait with S-200 missiles, but that there were no casualties or damage. The ministry said earlier that Russian forces had destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched onto the Moscow-annexed peninsula, also with no casualties or damage. Russian-installed Crimea governor Sergei Aksyonov said that two rockets had been downed by anti-aircraft defences near the bridge, which has come under repeated attack by Ukraine since last year.

The Russian-installed governor of Crimea said that Russian forces had downed another rocket over the Kerch Strait, Interfax news agency reported, following an earlier attack that Russia’s defence ministry said involved two S-200 rockets. “Another enemy rocket shot down over the Kerch Strait,” Sergei Aksyonov said on the Telegram messaging app. “Thank you to our air defence forces for a high level of professionalism and vigilance.”

The poor accuracy of converted S-200 missiles, which are used to strike ground targets, could spur Ukraine's partners to provide more accurate guidance and control systems. This point of view was expressed by Oleg Katkov, editor-in-chief of Defense Express, in an interview for LIGA.net. Katkov noted that one cannot compare the S-200 and ATACMS, despite their comparable range. ATACMS have an accuracy of up to 10 meters, while the accuracy of the S-200 is questionable. The poor accuracy of the S-200 and possible civilian damage could be a source of political problems. Ukraine's partners do not approve of the strikes on Russia, but believe that Ukraine makes its own decisions, and the initial reason for the shelling of Russia is the war started by the Kremlin.