Machines of the S-300VM system
Vehicles of the S-300VM complex, on the left is a 9A83M launcher and a 9A84M rifle-loader.
In the mid-50s, the ground forces of the most developed countries of the world began to receive new weapons - ballistic missiles with a range of several to more than 200 km. Their accuracy has so far been low, and this is offset by the high yield of the nuclear warheads they carry. Almost simultaneously, the search for ways to deal with such missiles began. At that time, anti-aircraft missile defense was only taking its first steps, and military planners and weapons designers were overly optimistic about its capabilities. It was believed that "slightly faster anti-aircraft missiles" and "slightly more accurate radar means" were enough to combat ballistic missiles. It quickly became clear that this "little" meant in practice the need to create completely new and extremely complex structures, and even production technologies that the then science and industry could not cope with. Interestingly, more progress has been made over time in the field of countering strategic missiles, since the time from target detection to interception was longer, and stationary anti-missile installations were not subject to any restrictions on mass and size.
Despite this, the need to counter smaller operational and tactical ballistic missiles, which in the meantime began to reach distances of the order of 1000 km, became more and more urgent. A series of simulation and field tests were carried out in the USSR, which showed that it was possible to intercept such targets with the help of S-75 Dvina and 3K8 / 2K11 Krug missiles, but in order to achieve satisfactory efficiency, missiles with a higher flight speed had to be built. . However, the main problem turned out to be the limited capabilities of the radar, for which the ballistic missile was too small and too fast. The conclusion was obvious - to fight ballistic missiles, it is necessary to create a new anti-missile system.
Loading the 9Ya238 transport and launch container with the 9M82 missile onto the 9A84 trolley.
Creation of the C-300W
As part of the Shar research program, which was carried out in 1958–1959, the possibilities of providing anti-missile defense for ground forces were considered. It was considered expedient to develop two types of anti-missiles - with a range of 50 km and 150 km. The former will be used mainly to combat aircraft and tactical missiles, while the latter will be used to destroy operational-tactical missiles and high-speed air-to-ground guided missiles. The system was required: multi-channel, the ability to detect and track targets the size of a rocket head, high mobility and a reaction time of 10-15 s.
In 1965, another research program was started, codenamed Prizma. The requirements for new missiles were clarified: a larger one, induced by a combined (command-semi-active) method, with a take-off weight of 5–7 tons, had to deal with ballistic missiles, and a command-guided missile with a take-off weight of 3 tons had to deal with aircraft.
Both rockets, created at the Novator Design Bureau from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) - 9M82 and 9M83 - were two-stage and differed mainly in the size of the first stage engine. One type of warhead weighing 150 kg and directional was used. Due to the high takeoff weight, the decision was made to launch the missiles vertically to avoid installing heavy and complex azimuth and elevation guidance systems for the launchers. Previously, this was the case with first-generation anti-aircraft missiles (S-25), but their launchers were stationary. Two "heavy" or four "light" missiles in transport and launch containers were to be mounted on the launcher, which required the use of special tracked vehicles "Object 830" with a carrying capacity of more than 20 tons. They were built at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad with elements of T -80, but with a diesel engine A-24-1 with a power of 555 kW / 755 hp. (a variant of the V-46-6 engine used on the T-72 tanks).
Shootings of a smaller rocket have been taking place since the late 70s, and the first interception of a real aerodynamic target took place at the Emba test site in April 1980. Adoption of the 9K81 anti-aircraft missile system (Russian: Compliex) in a simplified form C-300W1, only with 9A83 launchers with “small” 9M83 missiles were produced in 1983. The C-300W1 was intended to combat aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles on ranges up to 70 km and flight altitudes from 25 to 25 m. It could also intercept ground-to-ground missiles with a range of up to 000 km (the probability of hitting such a target with one missile was more than 100%). The increase in the intensity of fire was achieved by creating the possibility of firing missiles also from containers transported on 40A9 transport-loading vehicles on similar tracked carriers, which are therefore called launcher-loaders (PZU, Starter-Loader Zalka). The production of components of the S-85W system had a very high priority, for example, in the 300s more than 80 missiles were delivered annually.
After the adoption of the 9M82 missiles and their launchers 9A82 and PZU 9A84 in 1988, the target squadron 9K81 (Russian system) was formed. It consisted of: a control battery with a 9S457 command post, a 9S15 Obzor-3 all-round radar and a 9S19 Ryzhiy sectoral surveillance radar, and four firing batteries, whose 9S32 target tracking radar could be located at a distance of more than 10 km from the squadron. command post. Each battery had up to six launchers and six ROMs (usually four 9A83 and two 9A82 with the corresponding number of 9A85 and 9A84 ROMs). In addition, the squadron included a technical battery with six types of service vehicles and 9T85 transport rocket vehicles. The squadron had up to 55 tracked vehicles and over 20 trucks, but it could fire 192 missiles with a minimum time interval - it could simultaneously fire at 24 targets (one per launcher), each of them could be guided by two missiles with a firing interval of 1,5 .2 to 9 seconds. The number of simultaneously intercepted ballistic targets was limited by the capabilities of the 19S16 station and amounted to a maximum of 9, but on the condition that half of them were intercepted by 83M300 missiles capable of destroying missiles with a range of up to 9 km. If necessary, each battery could act independently, without communication with the squadron control battery, or receive target data directly from higher-level control systems. Even the withdrawal of the 32S9 battery point from the battle did not overload the battery, since there was enough accurate information about the targets from any radar to launch the missiles. In the case of the use of strong active interference, it was possible to ensure the operation of the 32SXNUMX radar with the squadron's radars, which gave the exact range to the targets, leaving only the battery level to determine the azimuth and elevation of the target.
A minimum of two and a maximum of four squadrons constituted an air defense brigade of the ground forces. Its command post included the 9S52 Polyana-D4 automated control system, the command post of the radar group, a communications center and a battery of shields. The use of the Polyana-D4 complex increased the efficiency of the brigade by 25% compared to the independent work of its squadrons. The structure of the brigade was very extensive, but it could also defend a front 600 km wide and 600 km deep, i.e. a territory larger than the territory of Poland in its entirety!
According to initial assumptions, this was supposed to be the organization of top-level brigades, that is, the military district, and during the war - the front, that is, the army group. Then the army brigades were to be re-equipped (it is possible that the front-line brigades were to consist of four squadrons, and the army ones of three). However, voices were heard that the main threat to the ground forces will continue to be aircraft and cruise missiles for a long time to come, and S-300V missiles are simply too expensive to deal with them. It was pointed out that it would be better to equip army brigades with Buk complexes, especially since they have a huge modernization potential. There were also voices that, since the S-300W uses two types of missiles, a specialized anti-missile could be developed for the Buk. However, in practice, this solution was only implemented in the second decade of the XNUMXth century.
