The Kapustin Yar test site is better known as the place where Sergei Pavlovich Korolev's first missiles were launched. Here R-1, R-2, R-5 and many others were "fledged". But KapYar played a huge role in the development of domestic anti-aircraft missile systems, which were also tested at this test site.
It was here on April 26, 1952 that the first firing of the S-25 air defense system began. The B-300 rocket, developed at the Semyon Lavochkin Design Bureau, was launched against a real target - a target aircraft. At that time, radio-controlled winged vehicles did not yet exist, so the crew of the Tu-4, after entering the combat course, left the board with the help of parachutes. The shooting took place until May 18 and was successful. All five target aircraft were shot down.
The first day of testing was the birthday of a new weapon - anti-aircraft missile, capable of destroying air targets in any weather conditions, day and night, with high efficiency.
System S-25 ("Berkut") was created by the cooperation of design bureaus, research institutes and enterprises under the supervision of KB-1. The project was headed by Sergo Beria, Pavel Kuksenko, Alexander Raspletin. Adopted in 1955, the system included 22 early warning radars and 56 air defense systems located in two rings around Moscow. By the way, in a conversation with Stalin, Kuksenko noted that the construction of an air defense system in the capital is comparable in complexity to a nuclear project.
Over the sixty-odd years that have passed since the first test of the air defense system, this type of weapon has become a landmark for the domestic defense industry. Many countries dream of acquiring modern S-300 systems. And the development of the "three hundred" - the S-400 "Triumph" air defense system has even more advanced technical characteristics.
