Originally posted by Ike 2K#
You have ABMs??? (anti-balistic missiles) LOL it takes more than 100 billion dollars in the united states just to develop a useless ABM missile and i cant dig that you guys have it.
First ICBM itercept was performed in USSR on March, 4th, 1960
Now we have a second generation ABM shield over Moscow, deployed in late-80s. First generation ABM system was deployed in early-70s, that's why US insited on 1972 ABM treaty, now wasted as useless.
In early-70s first ABMs had 1 megaton warheads, intercept alt 5-300km. A megaton explosion below 5km makes the whole concept useless

Around 1975 they solved the problem of target selection (recognizing the real warhead in a "cloud" of decoys), and switched to conventional warhead.
My Uncle worked in a PVO research center in Priozersk, Kazakhstan, after his "missions" in Vietnam and Middle East. He retired in 1990, he was a leader of the "combat algorythms department". They worked with Elbrus supercomputers, probably the last original Soviet calculating system.
He told me that this ABM compex can reliably intercept up to 10 warheads aimed at Moscow. It's more of a protection from an occasional launch then from a full-scale attack. US developes it's "NMD" system only because Russia is supposed to scrap (according to SORT, that probably will be never ratified after the recent affairs) it's MIRV ICBMs that can penetrate almost any ABM shield. More then 50% of their load are fake targets and active ECM jammers.
BTW, I meant that S-200 positions were the targets for ICBMs, but I don't know if this monster can intercept them. Maybe yes

That SAM's main target was B-52 formations, the "special" warhead was a 10kiloton nuke. The "ordinary" warhead is able to shred B-52 literaly into little pieces if it explodes at 60m distance. It's a system of a "first strike" defence, it has only 2-3 ready missiles per launcher, others are stored assembled, with compressed air, but not fueled. Technical division has to fuel them as they are spent. If it's not destroyed in first few hours - we have to assemble missiles out of factory containers... The damn thing is 11m long, launch thrust is over 160 tons, warhead is 300kg (60000 steel balls of different diameter), capable of mach 4+. Semi-active radar homing, new 5V28m missiles are rumoured to have IR and active radar homing too, capable to hit the target after the illuminating station is turned off or destroyed. Very resistable to ECM interference. Simple as a 3 kopeyka coin. Great design for late-50s. The Soviet klystron tubes were only 0.5 meter long, while American ones with the same output were the size of a refrigirator

S-300 can be used as a ABM point-defence, but it's not a main target for this SAM.
"Optimists invented airplanes, pessimists invented parachutes, cynics invented surface-air missiles"
