Ukrainian ATACMS Analogue: Modified S-200 Missile Hits Russians For The First Time
- 3.10.2023, 7:37
Exclusive footage of the use of a weapon capable of reaching Moscow.
The first video evidence of the Ukrainian military firing a modified S-200 missile at ground targets has emerged. Until now, it was not known for sure whether the AFU had such missiles, and many experts doubted that Ukraine could have redesigned the S-200 at all.
For the first time, Ukraine has shown footage of the modified S-200. The video appeared on the Internet, reports obozrevatel.com.
Ukraine has redesigned the Soviet S-200 missile into a new ballistic weapon that can theoretically reach Moscow. The occupiers occasionally complain about such missiles flying towards them - shelling of the Crimean bridge and other facilities on the occupied peninsula, attacks on the Rostov and Kaluga regions.
The Russian Defence Ministry openly stated that the attacks were carried out by the "Kyiv regime" with S-200 anti-aircraft missiles converted into a strike version. Kyiv has not, however, claimed responsibility for such attacks.
The S-200 surface-to-air missile systems were developed in the Soviet Union 60 years ago. They were designed by the Almaz design bureau in St Petersburg.
The complex was taken over by the Soviet army in 1967, but has since been modernised several times.
First of all, they tried to increase the range. In its final version, the complex had a range of 300 km, making it one of the world's longest-range air defence systems at the time.
According to the Soviet engineers' plan, it was the S-200 complexes that would shoot down American strategic bombers - carriers of nuclear weapons. Other targets - less visible and flying low - were more difficult to shoot down.
As a result, this air defence system was soon replaced by more modern models, including the S-300 and S-400.
Although the S-200 had good performance in terms of range and altitude, it was "obsolete". For example, it was not mounted on a truck but on a stationary platform that could only be transported by a special platform on rails.
As for the 5B28 anti-aircraft missile for the S-200, it runs on toxic liquid fuel and is huge (about 11 metres long and weighing 7-8 tonnes).
For a long time, however, it was the S-200 that formed the backbone of Ukraine's air defence shield. The Ukrainian Air Defence Forces had 5 (according to some sources) 6 divisions of S-200s covering the entire territory of the country. Each division usually had a battery of 6 launchers.
However, in late 2013, under the presidency of the fugitive traitor Yanukovych, the authorities announced the decommissioning of these SAMs due to their "moral and physical obsolescence". The launchers were dismantled and the missiles put into storage. On the eve of Russia's annexation of Crimea, Ukraine was left with virtually no long-range air defence capability.
In 2018, the first deputy defence minister, Ivan Rusnak, publicly announced that Ukraine was putting the S-200 back into service.
Ukraine has a small stockpile of these missiles - several hundred, according to Reserve General Romanenko, former deputy chief of the AFU General Staff. But Ukraine's allies, notably Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, also have large stocks of S-200s.
It is also known that Ukraine had a modification of the S-200 with a declared range of 250-300 kilometres against air targets. It is believed that the range against ground targets could be 500-600 kilometres.