S-200 missile system

The S-200 is a Soviet medium to high altitude surface-to-air missile system, called SA-5 Gammon by NATO. Soviet engineers began work on it in the 1950s, mainly to counter supersonic bombers such as the American B-58 and high-flying reconnaissance aircraft such as the U-2. The original S-200A Angara fired the 5V21 missile and entered service in 1967, using a semi-active radar seeker for terminal guidance. Later versions, the S-200V Vega, the Vega M and the export Vega E, appeared between 1970 and 1972 with the 5V28 missile and ranges of 200 to 250 km, and the S-200D Dubna, operational by 1975, used the 5V28V with a range of 300 km. The missile is about 10.7 m long and 0.86 m wide, weighs about 7,000 kg at launch and is driven by a liquid motor with four jettisonable solid boosters. Warheads were a 217 kg high-explosive fragmentation type or, on some versions, a 25 kiloton nuclear charge. A battery used six launchers with search and guidance radars. The system spread to at least twelve countries, and operational use has been rare, including Libyan launches in 1986, Syrian launches in 2017 and the accidental 2001 shootdown of Siberia Airlines Flight 1812.