Ukraine revives Soviet-era defence amid limited Western aid
Despite the delivery of Western anti-aircraft systems, Ukrainians are also attempting to reactivate Soviet-era anti-aircraft systems because Western aid is far less than their needs. One of the more intriguing cases is the S-300W anti-aircraft systems, introduced into service in the final years of the USSR's existence.
The Ukrainians have essentially depleted all pre-war stockpiles of ammunition for Soviet-era systems. The issue of anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence is particularly problematic, as missile production for these systems never left the USSR and is still located in Russian territory today.
For this reason, after exhausting both Ukrainian and Slovakian-donated missile reserves for the S-300 systems, these have become useless. Meanwhile, the number of systems like Patriot and SAMP/T (a total of seven batteries) delivered to Ukraine is too limited to provide anti-ballistic protection for all key facilities.
It's worth noting that alongside the ongoing war, Ukraine is striving to expand its own weapons production and repair capabilities for faulty equipment. This is evident, for example, with Tochka-U ballistic missiles or missiles for the BM-30 Smerch system. It is possible that the launch of the 9M83 missile from an S-300W system, visible in the video below, is the result of refurbishing old or damaged missiles.
There is also an option that Ukraine received a batch of damaged missiles for repair from abroad, as was the case with missiles for the S-300P system from Bulgaria. In the case of the S-300W system, the only potential source could essentially be Egypt.
S-300W system - the best anti-ballistic system of the USSR
The S-300W system, much like the S-300P, was developed in the Almaz-Antey factories but only entered service in the 1980s. It was a variant designed for Soviet ground forces, which required a mobile solution to protect against ballistic and cruise missiles they might encounter in NATO countries.
For this reason, the S-300W variant had better capabilities against such threats than the S-300P used in aviation and the navy. Initially, the S-300W's purpose was to shoot down aircraft at distances of up to 100 kilometres and ballistic missiles at shorter ranges, which according to Russian declarations, was up to 40 kilometres.
Over time, new two-stage 9M82 missiles emerged, characterized by an increased range of up to 200 kilometres for aircraft. Ukraine does not have access to these as they were introduced into service with the S-300W2 system.
A characteristic feature of the 8-metre-long 9M83 missiles is their very high speed, reaching up to 6,100 kilometres per hour. However, their guidance method and target destruction approach, even in the latest versions, do not match the solutions employed, for example, in PAC-3 MSE missiles.
Russian systems still use outdated semi-active radar guidance technology. In practice, this means that the battery's fire-control radar must continuously track the target until impact, and the target's destruction is executed by a warhead weighing about 150 kilograms.
