V750VK (SA-2 Guideline)

Air defence below 5,000 feet (1,525 m.) has remained the responsibility of the Army in India but in 1962, particularly in view of Chinese policy on the Himalayan borders and bolstering of the Pak.A.F., the Indian Air Force desired to procure surface to air guided weapons. Although an I.A.F. mission to London in July 1962 reportedly discussed the possible purchase of Bloodhound SAMs, the choice of the weapons system was finalised on the Soviet V75SM system. A number of these surface-to-air missiles were obtained and installed at selected sites in the Punjab. A new technical cadre under the Directorate of Guided Weapons was established, training facilities set up with a training launching station on the eastern coast.
SAM squadrons, each with six launchers and deployed to protect vital military and industrial zones, were fully integrated in the air defence system and operational during the September 1965 conflict with Pakistan. Although most raiding aircraft kept lo lo, a number of launches were carried out. A C-130 on a suspected nocturnal mission to paradrop saboteurs, was destroyed by a SAM north of Ghaziabad on the 8th September. After the ceasefire, on 10th October 1965, a high flying Pak. RB-57F on strategic reconnaissance was severely damaged by a SAM in a near-miss explosion, the aircraft barely limping back across the border.

Following the reported receipt of “Fansong E” radar and modifications effected, the low level limits of the missiles were reduced from 1000 to 300 metres and when the crisis of 1971 escalated into war in December, close to twenty SAM squadrons were deployed to cover military and strategic complexes. Ease of mobility enabled sites to be immediately established in sensitive areas, these acting as a tremendous deterrent. The P.A.F., forced to change tactics at the eleventh hour, were restricted in their ability to carry out accurate and repeated attacks and were confined to very low altitudes which resulted in navigational errors and inaccurate weapon deliveries. An enemy B-57 bomber was destroyed by a missile launched from a site in the Punjab on the 3rd-4th December night this being the only aircraft claimed in two weeks of war for, to quote the O.C. missile squadron, “they never came again”.

The V750VKs today form an important part of the air defence system, ADGES, which uses radar, realtime computers and complex display consoles to detect and identify hostile aircraft, extract their tracks, evaluate the threat and present this information to interceptor and missile controllers together with state-of-readiness data, intercept geometry and similar pertinent data.

Notes :
The simultaneous appearance of the high flying jet bomber and rapid spread in nuclear technology posed new problems for air defence and the first essential was to find an effective answer to hostile aircraft above 50,000 ft. Typical of the first generation anti-aircraft missiles, the Soviet V750VK is a two-stage surface to air guided weapon, the entire system with radar van and generator being known as V75SM. The missile’s powerplant comprises one liquid-propellant and one-in-line solid propellant booster fitted with large cruciform fins. The control surfaces are on the trailing edge of two of the fins and guidance is by automatic radio command. The target aircraft is tracked by radar which feeds signals to a computer which-works out guidance signals necessary to detonate the missiles high-explosive warhead when at closest point to target. The missile has a normal launch angle of 80° and can be transported on the Zil-157 semi-trailer transporter/ erector vehicle which has cross-country capabilities. The V’t50VK has been installed at hundreds of sites in East Europe, West Asia and S.E. Asia, the missiles being extensively used in North Vietnam.