SAM "Thor": the god of clear skies
If you look closely at the reports from the locations of the special operation, perhaps this is the complex that is mentioned most often. An airplane was shot down, a helicopter was shot down, a Bayraktar was shot down. And in most cases, the culprit of these unpleasant lines for the Ukrainian Armed Forces is precisely the anti-aircraft missile "Tor" complex, regardless of the letters and numbers indicating the modification. Whatever they are, the result is approximately the same: the report "Target hit".
Meanwhile, the age of "Thor" is calmly and confidently moving towards the half-century mark. What is the reason for such a success, it is worth understanding, because the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are also armed with more modern air defense systems and air defense systems, but where you don’t look, there is a Tor.
Indeed, the god of clear skies, only instead of a hammer he has rockets. Which, however, is no worse than the miracle hammer, and perhaps even more effective. In the days of "that" Thor, there were no supersonic targets.
Go to history?
1975 The Soviet government sets the task of developing a new air defense system. It was supposed to be a very innovative complex, designed to replace the Osa and Kub complexes in the troops. These air defense systems proved to be the best, but the rapidly changing situation and the emergence of new types of weapons (cruise missiles) on the arena required an appropriate response.

Unlike the "Cube" and "Osa", which were still anti-aircraft systems, the new air defense system was supposed to become a station wagon capable of hitting cruise missiles at extremely low altitudes and suddenly emerging air targets in general. But the main emphasis was placed precisely on small-sized high-speed targets, moreover, the complex was supposed to hit them in the widest possible range of angles of attack of the covered object.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the complex was supposed to "take" targets flying not only along aerodynamic trajectories, but also along aeroballistic ones. That is, ballistic missiles were added to the list of probable targets.
In principle, the task was very difficult. For the air defense system to be “both a reader, and a reaper, and a player on the pipe” is not easy. It is worth recalling that the United States began work in exactly the same direction in 1960. Their project was called "Mauler" and ended in complete failure. Five years of work and about 350 million TEX dollars - and the output turned out to be such an indistinct air defense system, a bit reminiscent of the Wasp, that the US Army chose not to suffer and curtail the project.
And in the Soviet Union, the designers could. Our new project was named "Thor".

Moreover, in parallel with Thor, work began on the creation of a front-line air defense system, a complex that was supposed to destroy air carriers of anti-tank missiles BEFORE the ATGM launch line. This is how the Tunguska appeared. But we'll talk about the "Thor", "Tunguska" and "Shell" a little lower.
They worked on Thor for a long time. The complex was put into service only 11 years after the start of work, which indicates the complexity of the tasks when creating a fundamentally new air defense system. After all, it was necessary to provide the air defense system with a decent range and maneuverability, while at the same time equipping it with all the necessary equipment as much as possible.
Therefore, a very correct decision was made to unify the chassis with the Buk air defense system and the Tunguska air defense missile system. This provided patency, carrying capacity and reduced the number of tracked chassis in the nomenclature of the country's ground forces. We chose the GM-355 chassis of the Minsk Tractor Plant.
The chassis made it possible to place all the systems necessary for the service:
- target detection station;
- missile tracking station;
- optoelectronic means of tracking the target;
- anti-aircraft guided missiles (8 pcs);
- rocket launch automatics;
- means of missile control and communications;
- means of topographic location and navigation;
- equipment for missile testing and functional control;
- auxiliary power supply systems.
In general, the designers managed to make a full-fledged combat unit on the basis of one machine. "Thor" turned out to be very peculiar in terms of appearance, but absolutely autonomous and capable of solving combat missions, without relying on additional means of providing the type of radar and target designation points.
Is it difficult? I think it's archaic. It is enough to look at the material about the Buk air defense system, it becomes clear that the short-range and medium-range complex consists of at least four types of vehicles. And here is one.
Because of this, Thor looks more than specific. And it works too, since solving problems of detecting high-precision weapons required unusual approaches.
Indeed, the aviation and UAVs fly in a horizontal plane, but the same ballistic and aeroballistic missiles can have an angle of 50 to 80 degrees in the final part of the trajectory.
I had to take such a step as the implementation of an isodal (and not isoaltitude, as in normal air defense systems) target detection zone. The isodal target detection zone guaranteed target detection at a given distance, regardless of the angle of approach of the target to the target. I don’t see the point in going into details, since physics and higher mathematics with integrals and other delights are rampant there. However, for those who want to reach the end - Isodal detection zone
In fact, it was necessary to create a new radar with a new antenna system, which was placed on a specially designed gyro-stabilized platform, which provided the target detection system with the ability to work on the move. It was a real breakthrough.
To ensure the operation of all systems, a computer with logical blocks and elements of artificial intelligence was used. It turned out to implement the process of target detection and analysis, that is, the information from the SOC got into the computer, where the target data was analyzed and assigned importance. The 10 most dangerous targets fell into the priority range and the process of issuing target designation began.
The danger criteria for targets operated by the onboard computer consisted of the target's speed, altitude, and time of approach to the object of attack. In addition, in the target designation system, recognition of the type of target being fired was implemented, and the radio fuse of the missiles was adjusted to the type of target for the most effective destruction.
With the help of a number of measures, the time that passed from the detection of a target to the launch of missiles at it was significantly reduced. For Thor, this time is from 3,5 to 10 seconds, which is still the best indicator among the world's air defense systems.
Such a short response time was provided by a phased antenna array of the search radar, which allowed not only instant additional search for a target, but also its automatic capture and tracking without the participation of an operator.
After everything was finished with the target in terms of search, identification and target designation, missiles went into action.
Thor managed to place 8 9M330 missiles, single-stage solid-propellant vertical launch missiles.

The launch was carried out by a powder charge, which threw the rocket to a height of about 20 meters, then the declination system was turned on for the azimuth of the target's flight, and then the rocket's main engine came into play. Reloading the air defense system took about 20 minutes.
As a result, an anti-aircraft missile system without authorities appeared at the exit. State tests confirmed the highest level of "Thor", which showed high capabilities, especially in the fight against small-sized high-precision weapons.
Anti-radar missiles were hit at a distance of 6-8 km, regardless of the angle of approach to the target. Aviation received its own at a distance of up to 12 km and at altitudes of 6 km.
Since the complex was brought into service for a long time, as soon as the Tor was adopted, and this happened in 1986, work began immediately on upgrading to the Tor-M1 model.
The main difference was two target channels, that is, one air defense system at a time could fire at two targets instead of one. Here, an ammunition load of 8 missiles turned out to be very useful, that is, 4 missiles per channel, which was in line with global trends.
In addition, a novelty appeared in the composition of the anti-aircraft missile battery: the Ranzhir automated battery command post, which communicated with combat vehicles via a digital telecode channel.

UBKP "Rangier" made it possible, when working as part of a battery, to completely eliminate the possibility of firing two combat vehicles on one target, determined by different vehicles as the most dangerous. The whole process of checking the target distribution took place automatically, without the participation of calculations.
It is worth noting that such a target distribution control system has not yet been implemented on any foreign air defense system of this class.
Another innovation was the “clip” of four 9M331 missiles in one transport and launch container, called the “9M334 missile module”. For the first time in the world, an anti-aircraft missile system was reloaded with two modules of four missiles, which were launched from modules.
These are the most global innovations made to the design of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which made it very attractive in the eyes of foreign buyers. "Tor-M1" was put into service in 1991 and until 2014 was mass-produced, being in service with the Soviet and Russian armies, and some countries of near and far abroad.
The third iteration of "Thor" - "Tor-M2"
This complex, which began to be produced in 2020, has become an even more serious opponent of everything flying. The channeling of the complex was doubled and now Tor-M2 is able to fire up to 4 targets at the same time.
This result was achieved with the help of a significant refinement of the antenna. The target search and tracking sector was enlarged, the processing computer was replaced with a more modern and productive one, and a number of on-board systems were improved.
"Tor-M2" can hit almost all types of aircraft in its range of altitudes and range. The only exceptions are ultra-small unmanned aerial vehicles, everything else is targets that will be successfully hit.
But the main feature of the Tor air defense system is its unique ability to search for targets and destroy them on the move, while being part of convoys of equipment. This makes Thor an indispensable complex, and if we add to this a simply amazing ratio according to the “efficiency-price” criteria, then it is difficult, if not impossible, to find something equal at all.
There are also ways to further modernize the Torah. In the very near future, it is possible to equip the complexes with 9M338 missiles with infrared seekers, which will increase the range of the complex to 15-20 km.
This is more than enough for the air defense missile system to directly cover objects and assets. Defense motorized rifle and tank units from the brigade and above.
"Thor" must act in conjunction with the complexes of direct cover for troops. In our case, this is the updated Tunguska and Pantsir-1S. These three complexes should harmoniously complement each other in order to achieve the maximum result in ensuring the security of troops from air attacks.
True, back in 2009, a comparative test of the Tor-M2 air defense system and the Pantsir-1S air defense missile system was carried out. Why this was done is not entirely clear to me, the complexes do not seem to compete with each other at all, but the results were more than curious.
The Tor-M2 air defense system and the Pantsir-S1 air defense missile system fired at the Saman target missile and at the E-95 target. "Saman" is a target based on a missile from the Osa air defense system, which plays the role of a small-sized high-precision weapon. The E-95 is a simulator of a cruise missile or medium class UAV.
"Thor" shot down three "Saman" with three missiles. "Shell" fired 8 missiles and did not hit a single one. Two E-95s were hit by both systems with one missile per target.
The comparison test showed that Tor-M2 is the most effective means of dealing with small high-speed targets. In defense of the Pantsir, it is worth saying that after being tested in combat in Syria, the complex has undergone significant refinement precisely in matters of intercepting small and high-speed targets.
The use of "Tor" in the military conflicts of our time, from Yugoslavia to Ukraine, shows that the complex successfully performs all the tasks of intercepting and destroying targets in its range.
That is why today the Tor air defense system is not only a means of protecting motorized rifle and tank divisions, but may well be considered as a means of protecting especially important objects, including from high-precision weapons.
There are not that problems, but rather wishes that would be nice to take into account and send to development.
Pure arithmetic: Thor had one target channel, which accounted for 8 missiles. Tor-M1 had 8 missiles on 2 target channels, 4 per channel.
And Tor-M2 has only 2 missiles per channel. Yes, the capabilities of the complex to destroy targets have increased, but no one has canceled the means of counteraction. In reality, two missiles per target channel is not enough.
At the Buk complex, this problem was solved very gracefully, by creating a ROM, a launcher.

This was indicated in the article about the Buk, a machine was practically created, similar to the old TZM, a transport-loading machine, only the reloading process itself was abolished.
That is, it is possible to reload the air defense system using a ROM, but why?
The ROM was simply connected to the Buk control center, and the commands from it were used to launch missiles from the ROM. Considering that 9A316, the ROM for the Buk M2 can launch 4 missiles, and after 13 minutes only the same - it would be very nice to develop something similar for the Thor. Considering that there are fewer missiles for the Tor air defense system than for the Buk, there may be more of them. Thus, the transportable ammunition can be increased to 32 missiles.
Having the ability to launch 4 missiles simultaneously via 16 channels (8 for the BM and 8 for the PZU), one can think about having a second type of missile in the "clip". These could be missiles with modules EW, or, alternatively, with cassette parts filled with small-diameter metal balls to destroy ultra-small UAVs or so-called UAV swarms.
In general, there are more than enough opportunities for further modernization of the Tor air defense system, the only question is how much this will be implemented in the future.
Today, Tor-M2 is at the forefront of attention, the air defense system successfully hits a wide variety of targets in Ukraine, just as successfully as it did before destroying Azerbaijani UAVs during the last Karabakh conflict. If not for the Torahs of the Armenian army, the Azerbaijani unmanned aircraft would not have suffered such losses. It was the "Tors" who shot down 6 "Bayraktars".
In modern combat, the role of such successful air defense systems as the Tor family is increasing, as more and more new air weapons for destroying ground equipment appear. Airplanes, helicopters, cruise and ballistic missiles, and, of course, unmanned aerial vehicles, both attack and drones-kamikaze and loitering ammunition.
Today "Tor-M2" quite successfully solves all the tasks of protecting brigades and divisions from aerospace attack, but it is necessary to systematically solve the tasks of tomorrow. The successful air defense operations of the Russian army in Ukraine will definitely entail an analysis of the potential enemy and the improvement of its strike systems.
Any war is primarily a source of information about weapons for designers. There is not the slightest doubt that as a result of the special operation on the territory of Ukraine, Western weapons developers will receive a lot of useful information and orders.
And this is a given, with which it is necessary to come to terms and play ahead of the curve.
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