ECM pods that could trigger SA-2 missile self-destruction

Y

yahya

ACCESS: Top Secret
Joined
2 April 2020
Messages
668
Reaction score
853
I have a technical question. Was there any ECM pod used in Nam that could trigger SA-2 missile's self-destruction after launch by sending specially modulated fuze activation signals? Reportedly, the SA-2 ground operators could trigger SA-2 missile's self destruction to cause damage by fragmentation when ECM jamming prevented precise guidance to an airborne target. Could this have been exploited by US side? Did this require powerful ECM transmitters or just knowing the right frequency and guidance signal's structure?

Peter Davies wrote in F-105 Wild Weasel Vs. SA-2 Guideline SAM. Vietnam 1965-73:

The SA-2’s uplink, downlink and radar proximity fuzing codes were not obtained until February 13, 1966, when a Blue Spring/United Effort Ryan Model 147E drone from Bien Hoa AB was shot down by two SA-2s near Hanoi seconds after re-transmitting the relevant data to a USAF RB-47H. It was, in the Assistant Secretary to the Air Force’s opinion, “the most significant contribution to electronic reconnaissance in the past 20 years”.
Click to expand...

How were these codes exploited after that? Were the transmissions to and from the FR-15Yu missile's command link worked out to detonate the SA-2 before it could do any damage?
 
Last edited:
Anyone knows if the QRC-314 fuze jammer was used in any significant quantities in Nam?
 
yahya said:
How were these codes exploited after that? Were the transmissions to and from the FR-15Yu missile's command link worked out to detonate the SA-2 before it could do any damage?
Click to expand...
No, because SA-2 have two detonation mode; first by radar proximity fuze and second by command detonation when the guidance station determined that missile is close enough to target. The proximity fuze was more precise, but susseptible to jamming. The command detonation was less accurate, but more reliable. To foil the missile, both the command link and proximity fuze must be jammed. It can't be done by one jammer, since they worked on different frequences. And the command link was relatively high-power, not easy to jam.
 
So what about using the QRC-314 + QRC-330 or QRC-335 combo? Or the QRC-354, or QRC-400 as substitutes of the former...?
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom