S-25 Berkut - Surface-to-air Missile Complex S-25

Surface-to-air Missile Complex S-25

The parts of the S-25 were designed in parallel. Some grounds were created at the Kapustin Yar test range to support the development of S-25:

• №30 - technical position to prepare missiles
• №31 - living rooms of servicemen
• №32 - V-300 launcher
• №33 - B-200 radar

The first tests of S-25 in full control mode were started 2 November 1952 (using radar-simulated target). The tests against parachute targets were done in the beginning of 1953. Tu-4 drones were used for moving target tests from 26 April to 18 May 1953. There were 81 launches during trials from 18 September 1952 to 18 May 1953. Additional tests were done in September–October 1953 against Il-28 and Tu-4 drones.

The decision of the government to build a full scale S-25 complex at the Kapustin Yar was made in January 1954. The complex was sampled for the state trials 25 June 1954. The trials were conducted from 1 October 1954 to 1 April 1955 and included 69 launches at Il-28 and Tu-4 drones (including simultaneous launch of 20 missiles at 20 targets). The complex was capable to fire at 20 targets with 1 or 2 missiles simultaneously having up to 60 missiles ready to launch. The startup time was 5 minutes (for 18 target channels).

There were 56 S-25 series-built complexes manufactured and deployed around the Moscow area, plus one series-built and one experimental deployed at the Kapustin Yar test range.