March 3, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Russian NTV television recently carried a report, on February 27, on the S-300V air and missile defense system. The report describes how the system was first devised for the purpose of destroying, with a nuclear warhead, American ballistic missiles, such as the Pershing II. According to the report, the Antey-2500 version of the S-300 interceptor has a range of 2,500km. Russia maintains that the American Patriot air and missile defense system has still not achieved comparable capability.
[Presenter] …The high-tech S-300 anti-aircraft missile system is a recurrent feature of magazine stories and television reports. This excellent weapon has unique version, the anti-aircraft missile system S-300V. This is the world’s only system capable of shooting down operational-tactical missiles.
[Narrator] It is the 1960s, a decade when a global thermonuclear war was not simply likely. To many, it seemed inevitable. The main Cold War adversaries, the USSR and the USA, were purposefully getting ready for a nuclear apocalypse.
The Soviet Defence Ministry faced the specific task of providing protection for essential Ground Forces sites against missile strikes. It was necessary to create a versatile anti-aircraft missile system capable of shooting down not only aircraft and cruise missiles, but also ballistic missiles. Designers intended the S-300V to be just such a system, created as a modification of the famous S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. The letter V in the name indicates voyskovoy [Russian for tactical].
[Veniamin Yefremov, chief designer of the Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics, captioned] The term tactical system refers to the design features of that system. The system must be able to move cross-country, on any terrain and reach the position required. It must be transportable by any means of transport including aerial and, for railways, to fit into the designated railway size of 02T. It must be able to become combat-ready rapidly after a march, within about five minutes, without preparing any ground.
[Narrator] The lead designer of the anti-aircraft missile system was the Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics. The head designer was Veniamin Yefremov. The development of the S-300V involved two phases. In phase one, a system was created to fight aerodynamic targets, cruise missiles and Scud and Lance-type ballistic missiles. Successful field tests took place in 1980-1981. As early as 1983, the system entered service.
Four years later, it was time for phase two. Its main purpose was to create a missile capable of striking at American Pershing-type ballistic missile and enemy aircraft at a distance of up to 100 km.
[Yefremov] The spectrum of targets that the S-300V is designed to be able to strike at includes ballistic missiles, aeroballistic missiles [Russian: aeroballisticheskiye rakety], aircraft, cruise missiles - that is to say, this system can strike at the full spectrum of aerial offensive weapons, any targets flying at altitudes from 25 m. to 30-35 km. Another thing that distinguishes ballistic targets from aircraft is very small radar echoing area. Take a plane, say a MiG-21. Its radar echoing area is two [square] metres. For the MiG-29, it’s 5 sq. m. The radar echoing area of a ballistic target is five-hundredths of a metre, that is, the radar echoing area of a plane is hundreds of times that of a ballistic target. Even so, we must provide a good impact zone and large protected areas [Russian: oboronyayemyye ploshchadi]. After all, weapons protecting against ballistic missile strikes are defined by the area they protect.
[Narrator] In 1988, the tactical S-300V was adopted for the Ground Forces air defences with the full range of its capabilities. Every air defence battalion [Russian: zenitnyy divizion] consists of a command centre, two surveillance and sector radars [Russian: RLS sektornogo i krugovogo obzora] and four anti-aircraft batteries. The combat potential and mobility of the S-300V anti-aircraft missile systems were repeatedly tested during range practice and special training exercises. The system is capable of hitting a plane with the first missile it fires and it takes no more than two missiles to destroy a ballistic missile.
[Yefremov] A detection system is needed, a sector detection station to address a target once per second. A system like that, the first one of its kind, was created for the S-300V. The main principle of attacking a ballistic target is as follows: whatever the angle of impact is, the effective fragmentation radius [of the antimissile missile] must cover the nose piece [of the targeted ballistic missile].
[Narrator] Originally, the S-330V was designed as a modification of the S-300 anti-aircraft system for use by the land troops. But the work resulted in appearance of a different weapon type with very high combat capabilities. The main advantage of the S-300V is that it can destroy enemy missiles as well as aircraft. The complex has a sophisticated locator and can be equipped with two different types of intercepting missiles. The S-300V can hit all types of ballistic missiles within the range of 1,100 km. Its last modification, the Antey-2500, has a firing range of 2,500 km.
The US armed forces still do not have a similar weapon. The well-known Patriot has never reached the level of S-300V. The Pentagon spares no money and effort to create an analogue of it. Time will show whether they will succeed.
(Article)
» Missile system details for: S-300V (SA-12A Gladiator, SA-12B Giant)
