It was soon superseded by the jam-resistant S-200V ‘Vega’ system and V-880 missile boosting maximum range to 150 miles and altitude to 130,000 feet, and the similar, nuclear-capable Vega-M. The original S-200A Angara system used the V-860 missile and was effective out to 100 miles and 65,000 ft. ShinePhantom photo (CCA-SA3) // Wikimedia Commons The system’s 5N62 “Square Pair” targeting radar had a maximum range of 170 miles, while its V-860 and later V-880 missiles could hit aircraft from 110 to 190 miles away, and at up to 65,000 to 131,000 feet depending on model.ĥN62V "Square Pair" targeting radar in its K-1V antenna post on display at Technical Museum of Togliatti in Russia in 2010. The S-200 entered service in 1967 to serve as fixed, long-range air defenses protecting the Soviet heartlands from nuclear-capable NATO strategic bombers and spy planes flying at high altitude. Hypothetically, missiles from S-200s may represent a domestic means to that capability unconstrained by foreign restrictions. Ukraine has particularly sought long-distance weapons to strike attacks in targets in Crimea and Russia, but has few (if any) remaining Tochka ballistic missiles, and any long-range Western weapons it receives (such as Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG missiles) are likely given under condition they aren’t used for strikes on Russian soil. Perhaps Ukraine concluded that the S-200s were too obsolete and vulnerable (due to being so immobile) to be worth using major resources in an air defense role. Ukraine still faces far more extensive aerial threats from Russia than the other way around, and lacks options to obtain replacement missiles for its mostly Soviet-era systems. Wikimedia Commonsīut if the Russians reports of multiple S-200 attacks are accurate, that implies that they are being systematically used in a land-attack role.Īt first glance, it’s more surprising for Ukraine to expend air defense missiles on land attack missions than for Russia. Two S-200 launchers and a cross-section of a V-880 missile on display at the Ketzel Park Museum of Military History in Hungary in 2009.
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