BUK SAM system Thread

The BUK would not be protecting one unit, they would likely have a brigade or group of brigades to protect and would more accurately be protecting the ground being covered by those brigades.

As the friendly forces move the Buk batteries would move... but strategically and certainly not all at once to ensure proper coverage... but you already know that.

I suspect the new tube will likely be the same as the new tube for the naval shtil-1, so they can just make one missile for existing and new Buk batteries and also for new and upgraded Shtil systems.

The new tubes will protect the missiles from damage and better allow for stacking on launchers.

This system is an evolution of the KUB system, where experience showed in the Middle East that when the central radar vehicle is destroyed each of the transporter erector vehicles becomes vulnerable to even F-16s with dumb bombs as they had no way to guide their missiles themselves.

In BUK each TEL vehicle has a guidance radar so it can guide missiles to targets using either radar or optical guidance which means the battery can't be taken out with a single HARM... especially when each vehicle can shoot down HARMs as well as aircraft and ballistic missiles.

Each battery will have 6-8 launch vehicles which means with each vehicle pointing its missiles in a different direction that 360 degree coverage can be achieved without multi face radar antenna on each vehicle.

Unification of missile design should allow cost savings, but also means they could have different variants too... for a wheeled battery operating with a medium wheeled unit they could attach a truck based vehicle TELAR with rather more launch tubes, or they could indeed develop a trailer with its own TEL for towing behind tracked and wheeled BUK systems.

It doesn't need an AESA radar to cue missiles to specific areas without emitting lots of radar energy. It could get target information from the IADS from other platforms without turning on its own radar and launch its own missiles to an intercept point where the missiles will go live and start looking for targets itself with ARH or IIR seekers... or a combination seeker.

This system is part of the mobile IADS of the Army that moves with the Army. It doesn't operate on its own and will get target data from other platforms/sources so it could operate without emitting any radar radiation at all... ie not LPI... No probability intercept... NPI... because it is just receiving target data.