UNUSUAL SA-5 SITE
The image above depicts a former S-200 (SA-5 GAMMON) site near Novosibirsk in Russia. This site has a very unusual layout. It would appear that the S-200 site has been constructed on top of a former S-75 (SA-2 GUIDELINE) position. While various SAM systems have often taken over the locations of legacy systems in many nations where the legacy systems have been supplanted by newer weapons (a perfect example of this would be Russia's deployment of S-300P systems on former S-25 sites), this deployment is interesting insofar as it represents an unusual S-200 site layout. Most Soviet-era S-200 sites featured a minimum of two 6-rail launch areas, to a maximum of five in some locations. This is the only Russian-soil S-200 site to feature a single launch area, likely due to the fact that the launch positions were constructed within the boundaries of the former S-75 site.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
The image above depicts a former S-200 (SA-5 GAMMON) site near Novosibirsk in Russia. This site has a very unusual layout. It would appear that the S-200 site has been constructed on top of a former S-75 (SA-2 GUIDELINE) position. While various SAM systems have often taken over the locations of legacy systems in many nations where the legacy systems have been supplanted by newer weapons (a perfect example of this would be Russia's deployment of S-300P systems on former S-25 sites), this deployment is interesting insofar as it represents an unusual S-200 site layout. Most Soviet-era S-200 sites featured a minimum of two 6-rail launch areas, to a maximum of five in some locations. This is the only Russian-soil S-200 site to feature a single launch area, likely due to the fact that the launch positions were constructed within the boundaries of the former S-75 site.ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
2 comments:
Congratulations, SOC
You have just discovered one of the latest SA-5 secret :). At the late 80. SA-5 had been reorganized and several ex SA-2 sites became a new SA-5 unit. This type of site has not a technical support area, because it was depend on main SA-5 unit located close to this one.
You can find a several "one-unit" SA-5 sites, for example near Kijev, Irkutsk etc..
The SA-5 site that you have described is located near Nizhny Novgorod, not Novosibirsk.
Good Luck!
Found one near Kiev and Irkutsk, they'll now appear as empty SA-5 sites in the new SAM site file. Great info!
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