S-75 Dvina

S-75 Desna / V-750
SA-2 Guideline, SA-N-2 Guideline
S-75 Dvina in the National Museum of Military History, Sofia, Bulgaria
TypeStrategic SAM system
Place of originSoviet Union
Service history
In service1957–present
Used bySee list of present and former operators
Wars
Production history
DesignerRaspletin KB-1 (head developer),

Grushin MKB Fakel (missile developer),

Lavochkin OKB
Designed1953–1957
Produced1957
No. builtApprox 4,600 launchers produced[1]
VariantsSA-75 Dvina, S-75 Desna, S-75M Volkhov/Volga
Specifications (V-750[2])
Mass2,300 kg (5,100 lb)
Length10,600 mm (34 ft 9 in)
Diameter700 mm (28 in)
WarheadFrag-HE
Warhead weight195 kg (430 lb)[2]
Detonation
mechanism
Command

PropellantSolid-fuel booster and a storable liquid-fuel upper stage
Operational
range
45 km (28 mi)
Flight altitude25,000 m (82,000 ft)
Boost time5 seconds boost, then 20 seconds sustain
Maximum speed Mach 3.5 (2,600 mph)
Guidance
system
Radio control command guidance
Accuracy65 m (210 ft)
Launch
platform
Single rail, ground mounted (not mobile)

The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system. It is built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most widely deployed air defence systems in history. It scored the first destruction of an enemy aircraft by a surface-to-air missile, with the shooting down of a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China on 7 October 1959 that was hit by a salvo of three V-750 (1D) missiles at an altitude of 20 km (66,000 ft).[3] This success was credited to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time to keep the S-75 program secret.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

  1. ^ "Зенитная Ракетная Система С-75 (SA-2 Guideline)" [S-75 Anti-Aircraft Missile System (SA-2 Guideline)]. Vestnik PVO (in Russian). 3 December 2005. Archived from the original on 27 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b Cullen & Foss 1992, pp. 257−261.
  3. ^ Leone, Dario (7 October 2020). "How a Chinese SA-2 shot down a Taiwanese RB-57D and scored the first ever SAM-Kill". The Aviation Geek Club.
  4. ^ Zaloga 2007, p. 8: "On October 7, 1959, one of the Taiwanese RB-57Ds was struck at an altitude of 65,600ft (20km) by a salvo of three V-750 missiles"
  5. ^ Zaloga 2007, p. 9.
  6. ^ Zaloga 2007, p. 11.
  7. ^ "V-75 SA-2 Guideline". Federation of American Scientists. 23 June 2000. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.

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