The system of anti-aircraft defense (Zenitnii Raketnii Kompleks - ZRK) 2K11 Krug (Circle) or SA-4 'Ganef' for NATO, was implementing impressive 3M8 missiles mounted in pairs on a tracked self-propelled launcher 2P24. The launch ramps of the tractor-erector-launcher, or TEL in military terms, could perform a full rotation of 360°. The Krug was the first Soviet complex of anti-aircraft missile batteries that could be autonomously deployed on the battlefield. The vehicles of that SAM system could be airlifted by An-22. Developed from 1958 on, the first model of the new missile entered service in 1965. The system was intended for division level area defence against targets flying at medium and high altitudes, and it was deployed between 10 and 25 km from the forward edge of battle area (FEBA). Although the missile is now obsolete - the Poles had nevertheless chosen to keep it until the summer of 2011 but we ignore for what reason - it was a formidable weapon for its potential adversaries of the time.
Le radar de poursuite 1S32 "Pat Hand" déployé à Cochstedt en 1970. © P.Nikulla/USMLM. A typical SA-4 battery was composed of three 2P24 TEL armed with two missiles each, a vehicle equipped with a P-40/1S12 'Long Track' acquisition radar and a vehicle equipped with a 1S32 'Pat Hand' tracking radar. The latter had the ability to guide two missiles on a single target if needed. Each type of vehicle afore-mentioned was adapted on the same Metrovagonmash GM-123 tracked chassis. 2T6 missile resupply vehicles on the battlefield were based on trucks Ural-375 equipped with a crane to carry and transload a single missile. Batteries could also be integrated with the 9S44 Krab K-1 combat support system that was mounted on an Ural-375A chassis, which was intended to fuse data from multiple acquisition radars to facilitate target tracking and battery control. These radars could be the P-10 'Knife Rest', P-12/18 'Spoon Rest', P-15/19 'Flat Face', P-15M 'Squat Eye' and of course the P-40/1S12 'Long Track'.
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