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Was That a Snipe Going Over?
viet-developed missiles was developed with both letter-number designations and
the Israeli destroyer Eilat on 21 October 1967. When an improved antiship mis-
code names: |
| sile was spotted by NATO observers, it | |
|
|
| was given the designation SS-N-11; |
Letter | Type | Code Name | when found to be a variant of the Styx, |
|
|
| it was redesignated SS-N-2c. |
AA | Air-to-Air | A-letter names | Similarly, when the antisubmarine mis- |
AS | Air-to-Surface | K-letter names | sile now known as the SS-N-14 was first |
SA | Surface-to-Air | G-letter names | sighted, it was thought to be an antiship |
SS | Surface-to-Surface | S-letter names | weapon and was called the SS-N-10. |
SSC | Surface-to-Surface | S-letter names | When its true purpose was discovered. |
| Coastal |
| it was given the later designation to avoid |
SUW | Surface-to-Underwater | confusion. |
The new openness of Russian officials in addressing military issues has led to increased confusion in some instances as various weapons are discussed. Perhaps the most complex areas are Soviet electronics and missiles, both of which were given totally made-up names— which had absolutely no relationship to their real Soviet monikers—by U.S. and NATO intelligence staffs. Soviet aircraft and certain other weapons were identified by both Soviet and U.S.-NATO designations.
Probably the first use of a made-up name/designation system was during World War II, when the United States developed a series of code names for Japanese aircraft. Because of the lack of hard intelligence on Japanese aircraft designations (which were available for German aircraft), a scheme was developed in which Japanese fighters were given male names and other aircraft were assigned female names. Thus, the Ki-84 Type 4 fighter, one of the best the Japanese flew in the war, was given the code name Frank, and the G4M Type 1 naval bomber was called Betty.
After World War II, faced with a similar problem in identifying new Soviet aircraft, NATO adopted a complex designation scheme of “type” numbers. This scheme, awkward to use and near impossible to remember, soon was discarded, and in 1954 NATO adopted a simpler set of aircraft designations, with code names indicating the basic type and suffix letters indicating the principal variants. The first letter signifies the aircraft type: B for bomber,
C for cargo, F for fighter, H for helicopter, and M for miscellaneous fixed-wing (including maritime patrol aircraft and airborne early warning types). One-syllable names are used for propeller aircraft, like Bear, and two-syllable names for jet aircraft, like Badger. Subsequently, a similar scheme for So
Each missile designation consisted of the letters and a sequential number. Naval missiles in the SA and SS series were given a suffix letter N; thus, the SS-12 is a land-based missile and the SS-N-12 is a naval, sea-based missile in a separate series.
The naval missile system got off to a rocky start with the ship-launched SS-N- 1. Scrubber was the NATO code name, but U.S. intelligence agencies generally used the name Strela. The subsequent SS-N-2 Styx gained worldwide notoriety when Egyptian Komar missile boats sank
As shown in Table 1, there are several variants of the large Shaddock missile—different models for the land-attack (original) and antiship roles and for the launch method. While Shaddock normally is assigned to all ship-launched variants, Sepal does appear in some official documents for the cruiser variant (SS-N-3b). However, this name is normally used only for the coastal-defense missile.
89
Proceedings / January 1994
The SS-NX-13 was a ballistic, submarine-launched antiship missile that eventually also may have had an antisubmarine role. The missile did not become operational (and hence had no NATO code name). In addition to SS- NX-13, it also was known within the in-
telligence community as the KY-9, for Kapustin Yar, the Soviet missile test facility where it was first observed.
With respect to surface-to-air missiles, NATO names have not been assigned to the later variants. The SA-N-11 is a Sidewinder-type weapon comounted with two 30-mm gatling guns in a mounting given the NATO code name CADS-1 (for combined air defense system).
All publicly known air-to-surface missiles are listed in Table 1 because Russian strategic strike aircraft have in the past been observed to fly antiship missions under navy operational control. And in the past few years, a number of tacti- cal/theater strike aircraft have been shifted from the air forces to the navy.
The AS-13 has the NATO code name Kingbolt, although it often appears—even in official documents—as Kingpost. The designation AS-8 temporarily was assigned to the AT-6 helicopter-launched antitank missile.
Russian designations for missiles are provided when known. Some have two Russian designations; for example, the SS-N-5 Sark missile has the military service designation R-21 and also uses the design bureau nomenclature D-4. (The dual-system name is true of Russian aircraft; for example, the Tu-16 Badger has the Tupolev design bureau designation Tu-88.)
Also, some Russian missiles have “family” designations; for example, the
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AS-10 Karen’s Russian designations elude Kh-25MP for the antiradar/rad>3 tion-homing variant and the Kh-25bfl for the variant fitted with a laser seekd There also has been some confusi011 in NATO name assignments for the earl) Soviet submarine-launched ballistic mb siles (SLBMs). Early U.S. Navy pubb' cations of the SLBM era list the SS-N J as the Sark and the SS-N-5 as the Serb the assignment shown in Table 1 is no" generally used.1
90
Table 1: Soviet Naval Missiles
NATO |
| Soviet | Notes | NATO |
| Soviet | Notes |
Air-to-Surface Missiles |
|
| Surface-to-Surface Missiles (surface ship-launched) | ||||
AS-19 | Koala |
| strategic attack | SS-N-25 |
| Kh-35 | cruise antiship |
AS-18 | Kazoo |
| tactical strike | SS-N-22 | Sunburn | 3M80/P-80 P-100 cruise antiship | |
AS-17 | Krypton | Kh-31/Kh-35 | antiradar | SS-N-19* | Shipwreck |
| cruise antiship |
AS-16 | Kickback | Kh-15 | short-range strategic strike | SS-N-14 | Silex | 85-RU | cruise antisubmarine |
AS-15 | Kent | Kh-65/RKV-500 | strategic strike; | SS-N-11 | original designation of SS-N-2c Styx variant | ||
|
|
| SS-N-21 similar | SS-N-10 | original designation of SS-N-14 Silex missile | ||
AS-14 | Kedge | Kh-29 | tactical strike | SS-N-9* | Siren |
| cruise antiship |
AS-13 | Kingbolt | Kh-59 | tactical strike | SS-N-3b | Shaddock | P-7 | cruise antiship |
AS-12 | Kegler | Kh-25 | antiradar | SS-N-2 | Styx | P-15/P-2(VP-22/4K-40 cruise antiship | |
AS-11 | Kilter | Kh-58 | antiradar | SS-N-1 | Scrubber/Strela** | cruise antiship | |
AS-10 | Karen | Kh-25 | tactical strike/antiradar |
|
|
|
|
AS-9 | Kyle | Kh-28 | antiradar | Surface-to-Surface Missiles (submarine-launched) ^ | |||
AS-8 | helicopter-launched AT-6 | Spiral antitank missile | SS-NX-24 | Scorpion |
| cruise land-attack | |
AS-7 | Kerry | Kh-23/Kh-66 |
| SS-N-23 | Skiff | RSM-54 | ballistic land-attack |
|
| Grom | tactical strike | SS-N-21 | Sampson |
| cruise land-attack; |
AS-6 | Kingftsh | KSR-5 | antiship |
|
|
| AS-15 similar |
AS-5 | Kelt | KSR-2 | antiship | SS-N-20 | Sturgeon | RSM-52 | ballistic land-attack |
AS-4 | Kitchen | Kh-22 Burya | antiship | SS-N-18 | Stingray | RSM-50 | ballistic land-attack |
AS-3 | Kangaroo | Kh-20 | strategic strike | SS-N-17 | Snipe | RSM-45 | ballistic land-attack |
AS-2 | Kipper |
| antiship | SS-N-16 | Stallion |
| cruise antisubmarine |
AS-1 | Kennel | KS-1 | antiship | SS-N-15 | Starfish |
| cruise antisubmarine |
|
|
|
| SS-NX-13 |
| 4K-18 | ballistic antiship; |
Surface-to-Air Missiles |
|
|
|
|
| cancelled | |
SA-N-11 |
| 9M311/Kashtan | SA-19 similar | SS-N-12 | Sandbox | P-500 | cruise antiship |
SA-N-10 | Gimlet | 9M313 |
| SS-N-8 | Sawfly | RSM-40 | ballistic land-attack |
SA-N-9 | Gopher | 9M330 | SA-15 similar | SS-N-7 | Starbright |
| cruise antiship |
SA-N-8 | Gremlin | 9M33/Klinok | SA-14 similar | SS-N-6 | Serb | RSM-25 | ballistic land-attack |
SA-N-7 | Gadfly | 9M36/Shtil | SA-11 similar | SS-N-5 | Sark | D-4/R-21 | ballistic land-attack |
SA-N-6 | Grumble | S-300/Rif | SA-10 similar | SS-N-4 |
|
| ballistic land-attack |
SA-N-5 | Grail | Igla | SA-7 similar | SS-N-3a | Shaddock | P-7 | cruise antiship |
SA-N-4 | Gecko | Osa-M/2M | SA-8 similar | SS-N-3c | Shaddock | P-6 | cruise land-attack |
SA-N-3 | Goblet | Shtorm |
|
|
|
|
|
SA-N-2 | Guideline | M-2 | SA-2 similar | Surface-to-Underwater Missiles |
| ||
SA-N-1 | Goa | M-l/S-125 Yolna SA-3 similar | SUW-N-1** | * |
| ballistic antisubmarine | |
Surface-to | Surface Coastal Missiles |
|
|
|
|
| |
SSC-X-4 |
| RK-55 | AS-15/SS-N-21 | * There are submarine-launched variants of these missile5- | |||
|
|
| similar | ** The NATO code name was Scrubber; U.S. intelligence | |||
SSC-3 | Styx | P-20/P-21 | SS-N-2 similar | agencies generally used the name Strela. | |||
SSC-2 | Samlet | S-2 4K-87 | AS-1 similar | ***The projectile is | designated FRAS-1 (Free Rockc1 | ||
SSC-1 | Sepal | P-35 | SS-N-3 similar | Antisubmarine). |
|
|
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lSee, for example, various edition of Departi'1'-'11'
Proceedings / January 1^
h
of the Navy, Understanding Soviet Naval bevd°f ments (published since 1974).