Back                                                                My view on the SA 2 Guideline

It was originally believed that SA 2 Guideline was a development of the SA 1 Guild missile. Later it was found that the SA 2 Guideline was a completely new missile. Deployment of the SA 2a Guideline Mod 0 started in 1957. Then in 1960 the Guideline shot to fame when a total of 14 missiles were fired at the U 2 piloted by Gary Powers. The SA 2s achieved this by exploding close to the aircraft and the shockwaves created by the exploding warheads cause the U 2’s airframe to fail near the tail. As a consequence Powers lost control of the plane and he had to bail out into captivity. It is rumoured that his engine suffered a flameout in the thin air at high altitude so he had to descend into the thicker air to restart the engine. This was the time that the time when the commander reckoned it was the best time to fire the missiles at the aircraft. During this engagement the Russians also managed to shoot down a MiG 19 Farmer interceptor. The Chinese also used the SA 2 Guideline to shoot down several U 2’s flown by Taiwanese pilots. These incidents over china were not as famous as the incident involving Gary Powers. The Chinese version is known as the HQ 1 (Russian supplied missiles) or the HQ 2 (Chinese built missiles). These attacks on the U 2s in the early 1960’s did prove that the U 2 was vulnerable to modern air defences. In recent times North Korea and China have used the SA 2 Guideline on numerous occasions to try and shoot down US SR 71 Blackbird reconnaisance aircraft. All of these attempts have been unsuccessful. In 1965 the SA 2 Guideline was introduced into North Vietnamese service and was used extensively in Vietnam. At first the North Vietnamese operators were not that well trained and many batteries were destroyed by Wild Weasels. They found out that if they operated the radar intermittently they would reduce the risk of anti radar missiles like the AGM 45 Shrike destroying the radars. To make the missiles even harder to find the North Vietnamese would deploy several launchers and only one radar in a hidden jungle clearing. These light sites were harder for the Wild Weasels to find. Numerous methods were used for finding the sites were used. One technique was to send a pilotless drone into North Vietnamese airspace to locate the SAM sites. The drone would then send back information on the radar emissions it was detecting etc. The drone would use heavy ECM to make sure that it was not shot down. The next major battle these missiles were used in was the Six Day War in 1967. In this war the SA 2 Guideline was powerless against the Israeli onslaught. The Israeli army captured a complete site complete with radars and SA 2b Guideline Mod 1 missiles. These were subsequently shipped back to the USA for evaluation. One reason for this was that the SA 2 Guideline has a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet. To avoid being detected on Egyptian radar the Israeli jets would be flying lower than 500 feet. This was outside the engagement envelope of the SA 2 Guideline . Israel lost 22 aircraft in the war. Most of these were shot down with AAA or SA 7 Grails. Two Mirage IIICJs were shot down with SA 2 Guidelines. The SA 2 Guideline was used in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In this war it’s effectiveness is not known. Many African countries deploy the SA 2 Guideline. With the civil wars in Africa it has most probably been used in some of these wars. It’s next major use was most probably in Libya. The SA 2 Guideline was not that useful because before the strike aircraft got to their targets Wild Weasels had taken out the SAM sites. It is doubtful if any SA 2 Guidelines were fired in anger at the US aircraft. SA 2 Guidelines have been used by many former Soviet republics in the early 1990’s against the Russians. One incident occurred in 1991 when Georgian air defence units shot down a Russian Su 27. Other incidents have occurred that I don’t know about. The SA 2 Guideline was fielded by Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. Again the Wild Weasels wiped out most of the SAM sites before they threatened the strike aircraft. Iraq modified many of the missiles to use an infrared seeker head instead of the radar command guidance normally used. The SA 2 Guideline has been used in the former Yugoslavia. In this conflict it has been used in a surface to air role and it has even been used by the Serbs in a surface to surface role. In this role the missiles were fitted with a modified fuse which would detonate the warhead above the ground to cause maximum damage. It has been fired at NATO aircraft but there have been no reports of SA 2 Guidelines shooting down any NATO aircraft. Before they could pose a major threat the SA 2 Guideline sites were usually destroyed by Wild Weasel aircraft.

The SA 2 Guideline exists in six variants. The only noteworthy variant is the e model which is different in that it lacks the small fins on the nose and that it has a 295 kg nuclear warhead instead of the 195 kg conventional warhead. The E is recognisable by the absence of these forward fins and the enlarged nose containing the nuclear warhead. The nose is usually painted white on this version. Over it’s long service career it has served many nations well. It is now in the twilight of it’s career due to it’s age and the sophistication of modern day ECM equipment. It is still a formidable weapon when used where ECM activity is minimal. As a consequence the threat posed by the SA 2 Guideline cannot be taken lightly. The reason why it has remained fairly effective is that the missile was upgraded and the lessons learnt in combat were incorporated into these upgrades. It has been noted that in order to bring down an aircraft, the missiles are fired in large numbers at the target. There is only one instance the SA 2 Guideline was installed on a ship. This experiment was carried out in 1962. It was soon found that the SA 2 Guideline was not suitable for use at sea by the Navy. The reasons why are not known.