The legacy S-200 family of 160 nautical mile range class long range SAMs has been largely replaced by more recent variants of the S-300PMU family of systems. Nevertheless the system is of some interest as it was exported to a number of Soviet client states, including ByeloRussia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, India, North Korea, Libya, Syria, and more recently Iran. Much of this proliferation occurred after the 1998 fire sale of former PVO-S warstock and inventory, as the S-200 was phased out of Russian service.

While built as a semi-mobile system, the S-200 battery components were often sited in fixed concreted revetments. The 6 to 8  GHz band 5N62V Square Pair FMCW illuminator radar and 5P72 series launcher are both deployed by tow tractor. The 5V21 and 5V28 missile rounds are carried by the 5T82 transloader semitrailer. Typically six launchers are supported by a single 5N62V Square Pair, using a P-14 / 5N84A Tall King or P-35 Bar Lock acquisition radar.

Much like other SA-5 battery components, the 5N62 Square Pair FWCW illuminator is more than often installed in a fixed concrete revetment, or as this example shows, an elevated fixed concrete platform. The system is transported using a convoy of trailers, one each for the K-1 and K-2 cabins, with three for the disassembled antenna package (via www.s-200.de).

The cumbersome 5Yu24 rail loader was used to transfer the missile from the 5T53 transporter to the 5P72 launcher (above and below)(via www.s-200.de).

The PR-14A transporter / transloader has been used with SA-3 variants since the 1960s, and has been carried on a range of truck chassis (US DoD).

The legacy S-125 system was widely exported to Soviet client states, both members of the Warsaw Pact and overseas allies. It has proven only moderately successful in combat, its best known success being a kill against an F-117A in 1999, over Serbia. Like other Soviet systems of its generation, the S-125 is semi-mobile, using a towed SNR-125 Low Blow engagement radar, a towed launcher, and a PR-14A transloader truck. Two semi-mobile launcher types are used, the two rail SM-78A/5P71, and the four rail 5P73.

Following the end of the Cold War, a number of upgrade packages have emerged for the SA-3, mostly involving digital upgrades to the radar and guidance package. The Polish Army pursued an extensive upgrade part of which involved converting the system to a fully mobile design, under the Newa-C and -SC effort. Initially, it was intended that the SNR-125 Low Blow and 5P73 be carried on a CTM-2 (T-55) tank chassis, but the vibration and size of the vehicle proved incompatible with the radar. The second iteration was to rebuild surplus 9P117 Scud TELs, to carry both the radar and launcher. The latter proved technically successful but the supply of Scud TELs was not sufficient to support the program, and a compromise using the tank chassis for the TEL was adopted. Polish sources claim the marketing of this upgrade to India was blocked by the Russian government.

Polish designed Ankol S-125M upgrade package (Ankol). Additional image [Click here ...].





Polish MAZ-543 TEL demonstrator rebuild from a 9P117 Scud TEL. Additional image [Click here ...].





Polish designed mobile SNR-125 Low Blow using a rebuilt 9P117 Scud TEL.

Russian and ByeloRussian industry via a joint company, Oboronitelnye Sistemy, developed  the Pechora 2M upgrade package using a wheeled TEL, and the system was exported to Egypt in 2006. The system is designed to deploy and stow in 25 minutes. The upgraded  5V27D and 5V27DE missiles feature new fuses and warheads, and the electronics have been comprehensively upgraded with digital hardware, an electro-optical tracker has been added, .

The PLA reverse engineered the Soviet V-75/S-75 Dvina / SA-2 Guideline SAM system during the 1960s, including the SNR-75 Fan Song radar, the SM-90 launcher and the PR-11AM transporter/transloader. Since then the PLA developed a significantly improved HQ-2B variant, which uses a tracked TEL replacing the cloned SM-90. The PLA remains the single largest user of the S-75 globally, even though the weapon is being progressively replaced. The tracked TEL chassis appears to be a unique design, but evidently using components from the Type 63 light amphibious tank, itself a derivative of the Soviet PT-76.