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Last Updated: Mon Jan 27 11:18:09 UTC 2014







The Soviet Surface to Air Missile System Simulator


by Dr Carlo Kopp, SMIEEE, SMAIAA, PEng
December, 2009
Updated February, 2011
Text © 2009-2011 Carlo Kopp




SNR-75 Fan Song Console emulation in simulator.


Background


One of the valuable byproducts of the disintegration of the Soviet regime has been the release into the open source domain of a large volume of declassified technical material covering Soviet systems used through the Cold War period. These include a range of radar systems and SAM systems, especially those operated by Warsaw Pact nations. Numerous websites have appeared in Eastern Europe and Germany, which detail these weapon systems in a manner which a Cold War era Western technical intelligence analyst could only dream of.

An even more valuable contribution has recently appeared in Hungary, a high quality simulator program hosted on Windows, which provides faithful emulations of a range of Soviet SAM system engagement radar consoles. APA sought advice from several contributors with operational experience on these systems, and all confirmed that the simulator provides a high quality representation of the SNR-75 Fan Song E (SA-2 Guideline),  SNR-125 Low Blow (SA-3 Goa), 1S32 Pat Hand (SA-4 Ganef) and most recently, the 5N62 Square Pair (SA-5 Gammon). This author has studied the original Russian language technical manuals for various components of the SA-5 Gammon, and the simulator indeed provides a faithful representation.

The author of this program intends to produce over time accurate simulators for a wide range of Soviet SAM and SPAAG systems operated by the Warsaw Pact. All simulator panel representations are based upon digital photographs of real panels in preserved examples of these systems, and functional modes represent reflect operational manuals for these systems.

While most of these SAM systems are no longer operational, and those which are, are  typically no longer in the legacy configuration depicted, the simulator is valuable as it illustrates the high level of proficiency and high training standards required for these systems to be used effectively in combat. This clearly explains the enormous disparities in combat effect observed between operations by the Warpac advisor led PAVN pre-1973, by Soviet PVO troops along the Suez during the War of Attrition, and Serbian forces during OAF, in comparison with the woeful performance of the Syrians in 1982, and the Iraqis in 1991. The latter have become completely unrealistic yet widely accepted benchmarks of IADS combat effect and performance.

APA strongly recommends that visitors with a professional interest in Soviet SAMs invest the time to visit the site, play the recorded tutorials, and download the simulator for a test run.


Systems Currently Represented by the SAM Simulator

  1. S-200VE Vega (SA-5B Gammon) / 2011
  2. 2K11 KRUG-M1 system (SA-4B Ganef) / 2010
  3. S-125M1 Neva (SA-3B Goa) / 2009
  4. S-75M Volkhov (SA-2E Guideline) / 2006 - 2009

















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