During my 7 years as a USAF intelligence analyst focused on Soviet conventional military capabilities our team primary mission was understanding and evading Soviet anti-air systems such as the S 200, better known in NATO as the SA-5 Gammon. The S 200 is a long range high altitude conventional or nuclear armed anti-air missile system that was command guided towards its target then switched to semi-active radar homing for the last part of the attack. If i had some of these and wanted to push back the Russian forward line of air control I would do some combination of the following:
- mount the normally fixed site missile launch systems onto a truck so they launch from the Ukrainian front areas.
- if technically feasible, replace the S 200 semi -active homing seeker with an AMRAAM radar seeker (needs no terminal phase guidance support once it "sees" the proposed target or a AIM 9 infrared seeker (again no terminal phase guidance support needed).
- put a small warhead than the 217 KG original. The S 200 was designed to have a conventional or a nuclear warhead and so had a high payload capability. If you have excellent terminal self-guidance then a much smaller warhead would do the job and it will have better range and agility. You could simply remove more than half of the warhead explosive to achieve this and still have much more than the typical air to air missile.
Then you would have a weapon that can have transportable/mobile launchers, fly out perhaps 175 miles and have excellent autonomous terminal guidance and improved agility. AMRAAM and newer versions of the AIM 9 series can receive targeting info mid flight before independent terminal homing takes over and it is possible that NASAMS or Patriot missile systems could track the target and provide such guidance to a US seeker.
So maybe that is what is killing Russian Tactical Aviation assets all the sudden.
Hi Dan, Something seems to have happened. I cant believe its just that the Russians started flying closer to the line. I will take your word on all those technical adaptations to the S-200--and I would not put it past the Ukrainians for having done this.
My thanks to Mykola for making the effort -- and my congratulations on his success -- in greatly increasing the intelligibility of his spoken English. For me, that's made the difference between passing up and listening to the podcasts. Paul Forman
Another top piece from you both. Great rant Phil! Maybe, just maybe, Europe is waking up ,to the blindingly obvious. Fear of escalation, land for peace appeasement, NO!
Macron does like to grandstand but he is now absolutely right. (better late than never).
Meanwhile, it seems the European statesman of the year Orban, is arranging a golfing hols with his pal at Mar a Lago. Maybe with his cheque book? Better make it a big one Victor ha ha
During my 7 years as a USAF intelligence analyst focused on Soviet conventional military capabilities our team primary mission was understanding and evading Soviet anti-air systems such as the S 200, better known in NATO as the SA-5 Gammon. The S 200 is a long range high altitude conventional or nuclear armed anti-air missile system that was command guided towards its target then switched to semi-active radar homing for the last part of the attack. If i had some of these and wanted to push back the Russian forward line of air control I would do some combination of the following:
- mount the normally fixed site missile launch systems onto a truck so they launch from the Ukrainian front areas.
- if technically feasible, replace the S 200 semi -active homing seeker with an AMRAAM radar seeker (needs no terminal phase guidance support once it "sees" the proposed target or a AIM 9 infrared seeker (again no terminal phase guidance support needed).
- put a small warhead than the 217 KG original. The S 200 was designed to have a conventional or a nuclear warhead and so had a high payload capability. If you have excellent terminal self-guidance then a much smaller warhead would do the job and it will have better range and agility. You could simply remove more than half of the warhead explosive to achieve this and still have much more than the typical air to air missile.
Then you would have a weapon that can have transportable/mobile launchers, fly out perhaps 175 miles and have excellent autonomous terminal guidance and improved agility. AMRAAM and newer versions of the AIM 9 series can receive targeting info mid flight before independent terminal homing takes over and it is possible that NASAMS or Patriot missile systems could track the target and provide such guidance to a US seeker.
So maybe that is what is killing Russian Tactical Aviation assets all the sudden.
Hi Dan, Something seems to have happened. I cant believe its just that the Russians started flying closer to the line. I will take your word on all those technical adaptations to the S-200--and I would not put it past the Ukrainians for having done this.
Or maybe the Polish military has given them updated S 200 components/systems developed in Poland. Here is a link to a detailed analysis of the Polish development. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355437660_The_Tactical_and_Technical_Functioning_Conditions_of_the_S-200C_Vega_Missile_System_on_the_Modern_Battlefield/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QiLCJwYWdlIjoiX2RpcmVjdCJ9fQ
very interesting, thanks
Can confirm the point about the radar seeker. It's apparent from the video of the A-50 intercept.
My thanks to Mykola for making the effort -- and my congratulations on his success -- in greatly increasing the intelligibility of his spoken English. For me, that's made the difference between passing up and listening to the podcasts. Paul Forman
Mykola makes the podcast in my opinion
Another top piece from you both. Great rant Phil! Maybe, just maybe, Europe is waking up ,to the blindingly obvious. Fear of escalation, land for peace appeasement, NO!
Macron does like to grandstand but he is now absolutely right. (better late than never).
Meanwhile, it seems the European statesman of the year Orban, is arranging a golfing hols with his pal at Mar a Lago. Maybe with his cheque book? Better make it a big one Victor ha ha
I hope Europe wakes up faster....
Orban and Trump are two peas in a pod