2K12 Kub
The 2K12 "Kub" mobile surface-to-air missile system is a Soviet low to medium-level air defence system designed to protect ground forces from air attack. 2К12 is the GRAU designation of the system.
Each 2K12 battery consists of a number of similar tracked vehicles, one of which carries the 1S91 25 kW G/H band radar equipped with a continuous wave illuminator, in addition to an optical sight. The battery usually also includes four triple-missile transporter erector launchers, and four trucks, each carrying three spare missiles and a crane. The TEL is based on a GM-578 chassis, while the 1S91 radar vehicle is based on a GM-568 chassis, all developed and produced by Russian manufacturer MMZ.
Development
The development of the 2K12 started after 18 July 1958 at the request of the CPSU Central Committee. The system was set the requirements of being able to engage aerial targets flying at speeds of at altitudes of at ranges up to, with a single shot kill probability of at least 0.7.The systems design was the responsibility of the now Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design. In addition to NIIP several other design bureaus were involved in the creation of the Kub missile system including Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant which designed and produced the chassis of the self-propelled components. Many of the design bureaus would later go on to co-operate in the development of the successor to the 2K12 "Kub", the 9K37 "Buk".
First trials of the missile system were started at the end of 1959 to discover a series of problems:
- low power for the missile radar seeker and badly designed nose cone
- missile air inlets design failure
- low quality of heat shield inside the afterburner chamber.
Kub downed its first-ever air target on February 18, 1963, during the state trials at Donguz test site, Orenburg Oblast. It was an Ilyushin Il-28 bomber.
The system entered an extended testing period between 1959 and 1966, after overcoming the technical difficulties of producing the 2K12 "Kub" the system was accepted into service on 23 January 1967 and went into production that same year.
It is sometimes claimed that the M-11 Shtorm naval system is a version of the 3M9 but this is not the case, as the M-11 Shtorm is a separate system and, unusually for Russian surface-to-air missiles, has no land-based variant.
The 2K12 "Kub" was recommended for modernisation work in 1967 with the goal of improving combat characteristics established for the new chief designer Ardalion Rastov. A modernised variant underwent trial testing in 1972 eventually being adopted in 1973 as the "Kub-M1". The system underwent another modernisation between 1974 and 1976, again the general combat characteristics of the system were improved with the "Kub-M3" clearing testing and entering service in 1976.
After the Rastov visit to Egypt in 1971 to see Kub in operation he decided upon the development of a new system, called Buk, where each TEL should have its own fire control radar and is able to engage multiple targets from multiple directions at the same time.
The final major development of the Kub missile system was achieved during the development of its successor, the 9K37 "Buk" in 1974. Although the Buk is the successor to Kub it was decided that both systems could share some interoperability, the result of this decision was the "Kub-M4" system. The Kub-M4 used Kub-M3 components which could receive fire control information from the 9А310 transporter erector launcher and radar of the 9K37 Buk. The advantage of interoperability was an increase in the number of fire control channels and available missiles for each system as well as a faster service entry for Buk system components. The Kub-M4 was adopted into service in 1978 following completion of trials.
Some early development implementations of the Buk missile system heavily utilized Kub components, including the 3M9 missile.
There are several plans to integrate active radar homing missiles into Kub. For instance, Polish WZU of Grudziadz demonstrated a project of a Sparrow-armed Kub at the MSPO 2008 defence exhibition in Kielce. It is reported also that Vympel initiated some work to use its RVV-AE air-to-air missile to modernise the Kvadrat SAM system.
Also, the Czech company RETIA presented a SURN upgrade featuring an optical channel and new multiple-function color displays as well as the radar upgrade and the IFF system.
In 2011 a Kub upgraded launcher with three Aspide 2000 missiles in launch containers was presented at the International Exhibition of Defence and Security Technologies exposition in Brno. The modifications were made by Retia.
Description
The 2K12 system shares many components with the 2K11 Krug system. In many ways they are designed to complement each other; 2K11 is effective at long ranges and high altitudes, 2K12 at medium ranges and intermediate altitudes.The system is able to acquire and begin tracking targets using the 1S91 "Самоходная установка разведки и наведения" at and begin illumination and guidance at. IFF is also performed using this radar. It can only guide one or two missiles to a single target at any time. The missile is initially command guided with terminal semi-active radar homing, with target illumination provided by the "Straight Flush" radar. Detonation is via either the impact or proximity fuze. On the latest models, this vehicle is also fitted with an optical tracking system which allows engagement without the use of the radar in which case the effective altitude is limited to 14 km/46000 ft. The optical tracking method also allows engagements to altitudes below that where the radar is able to track targets. Maximum target speed is around Mach 2 for head-on engagements and Mach 1 for tail-chase engagements. Top speed of the missile is approximately Mach 2.8.
In contrast to the elaborate Patriot missile or even the simpler Hawk system fielded by US forces, most of the system rides on two tracked self-propelled vehicles, rather than towed or mounted on trucks, and either the launcher or control vehicle can be set to launch in only 15 minutes after changing location.
Missiles
The fairly large missiles have an effective range of and an effective altitude of. The missile weighs and the warhead weighs. Top missile speed is approx. Mach 2.8. The combined propulsion system 9D16K included solid fuel rocket motor which, when burned out, forms the combustion chamber for a ramjet in a pioneering design putting this missile far ahead of its contemporaries in terms of propulsion.The missile was fitted with a semi-active radar seeker 1SB4, designed by MNII Agat, which was able to track the target by Doppler frequency since the start. Later upgrades could do this before the start. Chief Designer of the seeker head was Yu.N. Vekhov, since 1960 – I.G. Akopyan.
In 1977 a new version, the 3M9M1 was created with three missiles fitted onto a different chassis with an integrated "Fire Dome" missile guidance radar. For comparisons between the 2K12, 9K37, see the 9K37 Buk entry.
An earlier incremental upgrade saw the 2K12 missiles replaced with the 2K12E versions and this system was known as Kvadrat. This name was derived from the most common arrangement pattern of the military vehicles of the 2K12 complex, when the 1S91 radar is located at the center and 4x2P25 TELs at the vertices of a square around the radar.
Comparison
1S91 radar
SURN 1S91 vehicle included two radar station – a target acquisition and distribution radar 1S11 and a continuous wave illuminator 1S31, in addition to an IFF interrogator and an optical channel.While 1S31 antenna was installed on the upper section of the superstructure and the 1S11 on the lower, they could turn around independently. To make the height of the vehicle lower the central cylinder was able to hide inside the prime mover.
The acquisition range of the radar was reported as for an F-4 Phantom II type of target.
Total weight of the 1S91 vehicle with a crew of 4 was 20.3 tonnes and 2P25 vehicle with 3 missiles and a crew of 3 was 19.5 t.
Additional radar
The 2K12 can also be used at a regimental level, if used as such it can be accompanied by a number of additional radar systems for extended air search at longer range and lower altitude, to supplement the 1S91 "Straight Flush". These systems include the:- P-12 "Spoon Rest", a VHF early warning radar, with a range.
- P-40 "Long Track", an E band early warning radar, with a range.
- P-15 "Flat Face A", a UHF early warning radar, PRV-11 or PRV-16 E band height finding radar IFF radar
Without the P-40 "Long Track" mobile radar vehicle, the 2K12 is unable to track aircraft at high altitudes.
Operational history
Middle East
Yom Kippur War
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Egyptian and Syrian 2K12s surprised the Israeli military, who were accustomed to having air superiority over the battlefield. The highly mobile 2K12 took a heavy toll on the slower A-4 Skyhawk and even the F-4 Phantom, forming a protective umbrella until they could be removed. The radar warning receivers on the Israeli aircraft did not alert the pilot to the fact that he was being illuminated by the radar. The 2K12 performed well according to a conversation between Israeli General Peled and Henry Kissinger, and caused the most Israeli losses of any Egyptian anti-aircraft missile, followed by the 9K32 Strela-2.The superior low altitude performance of the weapon, and its new CW semi-active missile seeker resulted in a much higher success rate compared to the earlier S-75 Dvina and S-125 Neva systems. While exact losses are disputed, around 40 aircraft are usually cited as lost to SAMs, and the 2K12 Kub proved the most effective of the three weapons. But in subsequent conflicts, its performance declined as captured examples resulted in effective counter-measures being developed.