С-75: История советской зенитной ракетной системы

Grushin MKB Fakel (missile developer),
Lavochkin OKB
| design date = 1953–1957
| manufacturer =
| unit cost =
| production date = 1957
| number = Approx 4,600 launchers produced
| variants = SA 75 Dvina, S 75 Desna, S 75M Volkhov/Volga
| spec label = V 750 This success was credited to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time to keep the S 75 program secret. This system first gained international fame when an S 75 battery, using the newer, longer range, higher altitude V 750VN (13D) missile was deployed in the 1960 U 2 incident, when it shot down the U 2 of Francis Gary Powers overflying the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The system was also deployed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it shot down another U 2 (piloted by Rudolf Anderson) overflying Cuba on October 27, 1962, almost precipitating a nuclear war. North Vietnamese forces used the S 75 extensively during the Vietnam War to successfully defend Hanoi and Haiphong against US bombing. It was produced in the People's Republic of China under the names HQ 1 (under licence) and HQ 2 (modified, named FT 2000A). Egyptian engineers produced a reverse engineered S 75 with the name Tayir as Sabah.

In the early 1950s, the United States Air Force rapidly accelerated its development of long range jet bombers carrying nuclear weapons. The USAF program led to the deployment of Boeing B 47 Stratojet supported by aerial refueling aircraft to extend its range deep into the Soviet Union. The USAF quickly followed the B 47 with the development of the Boeing B 52 Stratofortress, which had greater range and payload than the B 47. The range, speed, and payload of these U. S. bombers posed a significant threat to the Soviet Union in the event of a war between the two countries. Consequently, the Soviets initiated the development of improved air defence systems. Although the Soviet Air Defence Forces had large numbers of anti aircraft artillery (AAA), including radar directed batteries, the limitations of guns versus high altitude jet bombers were obvious. Therefore, the Soviet Air Defence Forces began the development of missile systems to replace the World War II vintage gun defences. In 1953, KB 2 began the development of what became the S 75 under the direction of Pyotr Grushin. This program focused on producing a missile which could bring down a large, non maneuvering, high altitude aircraft. As such it did not need to be highly maneuverable, merely fast and able to resist aircraft counter measures. For such a pioneering system, development proceeded rapidly, and testing began a few years later. In 1957, the wider public first became aware of the S 75 when the missile was shown at that year's May Day parade in Moscow.

Wide scale deployment started in 1957, with various upgrades following over the next few years. The S 75 was never meant to replace the S 25 Berkut surface to air missile sites around Moscow, but it did replace high altitude anti aircraft guns, such as the 130 mm KS 30 and 100 mm KS 19. Between mid 1958 and 1964, U. S. intelligence assets located more than 600 S 75 sites in the USSR. These sites tended to cluster around population centers, industrial complexes, and government control centers. A ring of sites was also located around likely bomber routes into the Soviet heartland. By the mid 1960s, the Soviet Union had ended the deployment of the S 75 with perhaps 1,000 operational sites. In addition to the Soviet Union, several S 75 batteries were deployed during the 1960s in East Germany to protect Soviet forces stationed in that country. Later the system was sold to most Warsaw Pact countries and was provided to China, North Korea, and eventually, North Vietnam. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U 2 piloted by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson was shot down over Cuba by an S 75 in October 1962. In 1965, North Vietnam asked for assistance against American airpower, since their own air defence system lacked the ability to shoot down aircraft flying at high altitude. After some discussion it was agreed to supply the PAVN with the S 75. The decision was not made lightly, because it greatly increased the chances that one would fall into US hands for study. Site preparation started early in the year, and the US detected the program almost immediately on 5 April 1965. On 24 July 1965, a USAF F 4C aircraft was shot down by an S 75. Three days later, the US responded with Operation Iron Hand to attack the other sites before they could become operational. Most of the S 75 were deployed around the Hanoi Haiphong area and were off limits to attack (as were local airfields) for political reasons. On 8 September 1965, during the 1965 Indo Pakistani war, an Indian S 75 Dvina was fired at an unidentified target believed to have been on a night mission above Ghaziabad near Delhi during the height of a paratrooper scare. Subsequent news reports would claim the destruction of a Pakistani C 130 west of Delhi, showing a photograph of the wreckage of the self destructed missile as evidence of airplane wreckage. According to Indian sources, no Pakistani aircraft penetrated so deeply into Indian territory. The missile system was used widely throughout the world, especially in the Middle East, where Egypt and Syria used them to defend against the Israeli Air Force, with the air defence net accounting for the majority of the downed Israeli aircraft. The last success seems to have occurred during the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), when Georgian missiles shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su 27 fighter near Gudauta on March 19, 1993. During the siege of Bihac, in the Bosnian War (1992 1995), Serb forces from Krajina fired at least three S 75 in the ground to ground mode at the Bosnian city of Cazin. In the Yemeni Civil War (2015 present), Houthis modified some of their S 75 into surface to surface ballistic missiles to attack Saudi bases with them.

The S 75 typically uses the P 12 early warning radar (also known by its NATO codename, "Spoon Rest"), which has a range of about The P 12 provides early detection of incoming aircraft, which are then handed off to the acquisition Fan Song radar. These radars, having a range of about , are used to refine the location, altitude, and speed of the hostile aircraft. The Fan Song system consists of two antennas operating on different frequencies, one providing elevation (altitude) information and the other azimuth (bearing) information. Regimental headquarters also include a Spoon Rest, as well as a Flat Face long range C band radar and Side Net height finder. Information from these radars is sent from the regiment down to the battalion Spoon Rest operators to allow them to coordinate their searches. Earlier S 75 versions used a targeting radar known as Knife Rest, which was replaced in Soviet use, but can still be found in older installations.

DF 7/Dongfeng 7/M 7/Project 8610/CSS 8: Chinese surface to surface tactical ballistic missile converted from HQ 1/2/3/4. M 7 missile is the only Chinese ballistic missile that can be launched at a slant angle. It carries a 500 kg warhead and have a maximum range of 180 km. In 1989, Iran reportedly purchased 200 M 7 missiles with TELs, and officially put them into service as the Tondar 69.

The Qaher 1 (قاهر 1, meaning "Subduer 1") is originally a Soviet S 75 missile that was developed locally by the Houthis to be a surface to surface missile that works on two stages, liquid fuel and solid fuel. It was unveiled in December 2015. The Houthis have fired many Qaher 1s into Saudi Arabia during the course of the Yemeni Civil War.