After a Soviet surface-to-air missile battery showdown with a USAF U-2 spy plane near the closed city of Sverdlovsk in 1960, the US government realised they needed a reconnaissance plane that could fly even higher – and outrun any missile and fighter launched against it.
Worse was to come two years later; during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the US blockaded Cuba after discovering preparations to house Soviet ballistic missiles, a U-2 undertaking aerial reconnaissance over Cuba was downed, again by a Soviet surface-to-air missile.
GTRI landed its own largest-ever contract in 1986—$14.7 million ($ million today) to create a Soviet surface-to-air missile system simulator.
The Soviet-made surface-to-surface missile was fired from a training ground in northern Ukraine and, seven minutes later, punched through the roof of an apartment block in Brovary.
The weapon that went astray Thursday was a Soviet-made surface-to-surface missile.
His verdict is that "relying upon Soviet era surface-to-air missile systems - even upgraded models - puts Syria at a considerable disadvantage and hinders its ability to mount a credible defence against a modern air arm outfitted with the latest in precision-guided munitions and electronic counter measures".
All of her radars were replaced with Soviet systems: Rif surface search, Gyuys air search, Zalp surface gunnery and Yakor' anti-aircraft gunnery radars.
Iran is defended, but mainly by Soviet-era surface-to-air missiles of a kind the Israelis have dealt with before.
Firebees fitted with receivers to detect electronic countermeasures returned intelligence about Soviet-built surface-to-air missiles that enabled American engineers to design appropriate detection and jamming equipment.
Moments after releasing his bombs on target, as he pulled out of his dive, a Soviet-made surface-to-air missile sheared off his right wing.
