S-75M Volkhov (RS-SA-2 Guideline)

The S-75 is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system. It is built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most widely deployed air defence systems in history. It was produced in the People's Republic of China under the names HQ-1 (under licence) and HQ-2 (modified, named FT-2000A). Egyptian engineers produced a reverse-engineered S-75 with the name Tayir-as-Sabah. The S-75 system scored the first destruction of an enemy aircraft by a surface-to-air missile with the shootdown of a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China on 7 October 1959, which was hit by a salvo of three V-750 (1D) missiles at an altitude of 20 km (66,000 ft). This success was credited to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time to keep the S-75 program secret.

Developed by the Lavochkin design bureau in the mid-1950s to counter Western high-altitude reconnaissance flights, the baseline S-75 system entered Soviet service in 1957, with the upgraded S-75M Volkhov variant introduced in 1961. The system gained international prominence in 1960 by downing Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane, and it went on to serve as the backbone of North Vietnamese air defenses during the Vietnam War, claiming numerous American aircraft. Although retired by Russia in the 1990s in favor of more advanced systems like the S-300, the S-75 family remains operational in several nations and holds the legacy of being the most widely deployed air defense missile system in history.