S-25 Berkut

S-25 Berkut
S-25 Berkut
General Information
Type	Surface-to-air guided missile system
Local name	S-25 Berkut
NATO designation	SA-1 Guild
Country of origin	Soviet Union
Manufacturer	OKB-2 Lavochkin
development	1950
Commissioning	1955
Working time	1956-1982
Technical specifications
length	11.90 m
diameter	650 mm
Combat weight	3,300 kg
span	2,700 mm
drive	Liquid fuel rocket engine
speed	Do 2.5
Range	48 km
Service ceiling	25,000 m
Furnishing
steering	Inertial navigation platform
Target location	Radar target tracking with radio command steering
Warhead	210–250 kg fragmentation warhead or 15 kt nuclear warhead
Detonator	Proximity and impact fuses
Weapon platforms	Fixed position
Lists on the subject

The S-25 Berkut ( NATO code name SA-1 Guild , Russian designation: С-25 / S-25 (Система-25 / Sistema-25) ; other designations W-300, R-113 ) was the first surface to air Missile that was developed in the Soviet Union . It was in use from the 1950s to the 1980s. The radio-controlled weapon was intended exclusively for the defense of large cities against strategic bombers .

Although the S-25 suffered from many “teething troubles”, it was equipped with a multi-channel radar that was unique at the time and is still regarded by some experts as the first “real anti-aircraft missile”.

history

The S-25 Berkut was developed between 1951 and 1955 by the designer A. Raspletin at OKB Lavochkin . With the intensification of the Cold War and the increasing nuclear threat posed by US bombers, a defensive weapon was needed. This then took shape based on the missile plans for the Soviet Zenith in the form of the S-25.

In the years 1955/56 the S-25 was then introduced into the Soviet Air Defense Forces . It was used exclusively to defend Moscow, with positioning in two defensive rings around the city. The inner defensive belt was about 40 km from the city center and consisted of 22 positions. The second ring consisted of 34 positions and had a radius of about 75 km.

The establishment of these anti-aircraft missile positions around Moscow led to an improvement in the infrastructure, as buildings, roads and communication facilities were built specifically for this purpose. The missile itself could be equipped with either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. While the successor S-75 achieved worldwide distribution, the S-25 was never used outside of Moscow due to its poor hit probability, mobility and awkward operation.

technology

The S-25 was a radio-controlled missile that was guided to the target with the help of a radar source. An S-25 position consisted of:

• W-300 starter system (base vehicle, starting device, radio control system)
• B-200 radar (TWS, track-while-scan, simultaneous tracking and attack of up to 20 targets)
• W-301 missile

The S-25 had a semi-active radar: the sky was searched for threats by the radar station. If one was discovered and activated, the target was tracked by the radar beam and steering data was sent to the radio control system, which guided the missile to the target.

The missile was designed to combat targets up to 55 km away at speeds of 1,500 km / h to more than 2,000 km / h (depending on the modification) and maximum altitudes of more than 20,000 meters. In practice, these values ​​were dependent on several factors (flight direction, take-off direction, weather, etc.), so that targets could only be fought at altitudes of 1,000 m to 20,000 m. With a nuclear warhead and additional equipment, the S-25 could also be used against targets up to 26,000 m. The rocket was designed without a solid fuel booster and with a single liquid fuel engine. Although it reached a top speed of Mach 3.5 (3.5 times the speed of sound , 3670 km / h), the acceleration for an anti-aircraft missile was relatively low.

The B-200 radar and target guidance system was the world's first multi-channel radar to be used by a SAM. The TWS radar (Track-While-Scan) of the B-200 was able to scan the airspace at an angle of 54 ° in the horizontal and vertical. The fire control equipment continued to allow tracking and engagement of up to 20 targets at the same time. In the central bunker of an S-25 regiment there was not only 20 target control consoles but also the analogue main fire control computer . An S-25 regiment consisted of 450 soldiers and 30 officers.

Due to the high number of S-25 positions around Moscow (one position consisted of around 60 launch ramps) and the powerful B-200 radar and targeting system for the time, penetrating targets could have been taken under heavy defensive fire by S-25 . In the later years, the missile's poor accuracy was compensated for by the fact that the targets were to be forced to reverse or to fly low and thus into the sights of the more powerful S-75 and anti-aircraft guns by the heaviest S-25 fire .

See also

• List of surface-to-air missiles

Individual evidence

1. ↑ S-25 Berkut

Web links

Commons : S-25 Berkut  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• S-25