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First Tor-M2U deployed in Southern Military District 22306173.

23 Jun, 2017 8:27 | 2017

Defence & Security News - Russia

First Tor-M2U air defense system regiment deployed in Russia's Southern Military District

The Russian Ministry of Defense has deployed a regiment of the newest 9K331M Tor-M2U SAM systems in the Rostov region. These systems are capable of destroying drones, airplanes and helicopters while on the move. Under certain conditions, these systems will cope even with such complex targets like precision-guided missiles and bombs. The new military unit became part of the newly formed 150th Motorized Rifle Division, the newspaper Izvestia reported.

A Russian Tor-M2U air-defence system
(Credit: Vitaly Kuzmin)

According to experts, these SAM systems will reliably defend Russian ground forces from precision-guided weapons.

As Izvestia was told in the Southern Military District, the formation of the 933rd SAM regiment started late last year. The new military unit became part of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division and now is being stationed in the town of Millerovo, Rostov region. Since June 1 this year, the first crews of the regiment started mastering the Tor-M2U at the Air Defense Training Center in the city of Yeisk.

According to expert Anton Lavrov, the 933th Air Defense Missile Regiment relates to air defense for ground troops. Therefore, unlike the Aerospace Forces’ SAM regiments and brigades, this regiment does not protect important industrial and social facilities. Its task is to cover the regiments, battalions and companies of the division, to which it belongs.

"The newest Tor-M2U SAM system is able to protect the dispositions of the division both in the position area and on the move," the expert said. "Such systems cover motor rifle, tank and artillery units, headquarters, communication centers and even divisional warehouses. The Tor systems of the new air defense missile regiment will easily repel not only an air raid of attack aircraft, helicopters or attack drones. With their capabilities, they can effectively counter also complex targets such as cruise missiles or precision-guided glide bombs. Such targets are difficult to detect by radar, while their flight path seriously hampers their destruction by surface-to-air missiles."

The development of the Tor SAM system began in the mid-1970s. However, it was not until 1986 that the SAM systems began entering the field. In 1991, the Tor underwent its first upgrade. The new version was adopted under the M1 designation.

In 2016 it became known that Russia’s Ministry of Defense had placed a contract for the purchase of several divisional sets of the 9K331M Tor-M2U SAM systems. The Tor-M2U is a completely revamped vehicle. It has received a number of unique capabilities through the latest electronic equipment, including the capability to fire at several targets simultaneously in automatic mode and the fire-on-the-move capability. The 9K331M can engage targets at a range of up to 15 km flying at altitudes up to 10 km. Each Tor-M2U vehicle carries eight missiles.

The 933rd Verkhnedneprovsky Air Defense Missile Regiment, decorated with the Order of Red Banner and the Order of Alexander Nevsky, was formed in 1942 as the 1273rd anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment. It fought from Smolensk to Berlin during World War II, was decorated and received its honorary names. After the war, the regiment was stationed in the German Democratic Republic. In 1962, it was renamed the 933rd anti-aircraft regiment and, ten years later, became an air defense missile regiment. In 1991, the regiment was transferred to the North Caucasian Military District. Subsequently, the regiment was reduced to a SAM battalion, which, in turn, was disbanded in 2008, the Izvestia newspaper recalls.

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First Tor-M2U deployed in Southern Military District 22306173.