Author: fb Armáda České republiky|Caption: 2K12 Kub (SA-6 „Gainful“) Missile Launchers
About 70 soldiers of the 251st Air Defence Missile Group and of the Support Battalion from the 25th Air Defence Missile Regiment “Torbuk” based in Strakonice exercise in Military Region Boletice in Southern Bohemia. They focus on tasks which precede firing from the 2K12 KUB Air Defence Missile sytem.
The 251st group is armed with four batteries of the 2K12M Kub (2К12M "Куб" - “cube”, NATO reporting name: SA-6 „Gainful“). A typical 2K12 battery consists of five tracked vehicles, a radar vehicle and four triple-missile transporter erector launchers (TELs) with twelve ready-to-fire missiles per battery. The intercept altitude of the 3M9M3E missile is 25–14,000 m, and engagement range is 4.4–23 km.
The system, developed by Toropov OKB-134, and produced by Vympel MKB and NIIP, is more than 40 years old. It was first introduced in the Czechoslovak People’s Army in 1975. And is going to be replaced with a new SHORAD/MSAM Air Defence. Four batteries will be procured at a price of CZK 10 billion (USD 450 million), the contract will be signed in 2019, and the deliveries are expected for 2021-2024.
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: SHORAD/MSAM Air Defence Systems
The system was successfully deployed by the Egyptian and Syrian armies during the Yom Kippur War, by the Sysrians during the Lebanon war in 1982 or by Iraq during the Iraq-Iran conflict. It even managed to shoot down a U.S.A.F. F-16 during the Desert Storm operation in 1991. Another F-16 was shot down by the same system in 1995 by the Bosnian Serb Army. More recently the Kubs responded to the large attack by the U.S., British and French air-to-surface cruise missiles against Syria, in April 2018. Eleven destroyed missiles were claimed, not confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defence.
Kubs are still operated by several other NATO members: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia. Russia replaced its 2K12s with 9K37s (Buk).
- Crew: 3
- Lenght: 7.4 m
- Width: 3.2 m
- Height: 3.44 m
- Weight: 25 t
- Road speed: 65 km/h
- Range: 259 km
- Armament: 3 x 3M9M3E Medium-Range Guided Missiles
See also: The Czech Ground Air Defence joins the NRF
Variants
- 2K12 - entered limited service in 1967
- 2K12M1 Kub-M1 - initial production model - appeared in 1973;
- 2K12M3 Kub-M3 - improved 2K12 series variant - appeared in 1976;
- 2K12M4 Kub-M4 - based on the 2K12M3, interoperable with 9K37 Buk - appeared in 1978;
- 9M336/3M9 - improved moderznied version - available from 1977 (SA-6B in NATO designation);
- 2K12E "Kvadrat" - export variant of 2K12 series.
The Kubs in Czech service were modernized by RETIA a.s. The modernization eliminated problems caused by unavailable spare parts and enabled automation of various activities. It also includes, besides replacement of all electronics of the SURN vehicle with surveillance and fire control radar, upgraded 2P25 mobile launchers.
More photos from the exercise: fb Armáda České republiky