page_title: S-75 Dvina
section_title: Soviet doctrinal organization
hierarchical_section_title: S-75 Dvina / Description / Soviet doctrinal organization
caption_attribution_description: English: Reconnaissance photo of a North Vietnamese SA-2 (S-75) SAM site. (USAF Museum web collection)
context_page_description: The S-75 is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, 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 scored the first destruction of an enemy aircraft by a surface-to-air missile, with the shooting down of a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China on 7 October 1959 that was hit by a salvo of three V-750 missiles at an altitude of 20 km. This success was credited to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time to keep the S-75 program secret.
  This system first gained international fame when an S-75 battery, using the newer, longer-range, higher-altitude V-750VN missile was deployed in the 1960 U-2 incident, when it shot down the U-2 of Francis Gary Powers overflying the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The system was also deployed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it shot down another U-2 overflying Cuba on October 27, 1962, almost precipitating a nuclear war. North Vietnamese forces used the S-75 extensively during the Vietnam War to successfully defend Hanoi and Haiphong against US bombing.
context_section_description: The Soviet Union used a fairly standard organizational structure for S-75 units. Other countries that have employed the S-75 may have modified this structure. Typically, the S-75 is organized into a regimental structure with three subordinate battalions. The regimental headquarters will control the early-warning radars and coordinate battalion actions. The battalions will contain several batteries with their associated acquisition and targeting radars.
caption: North Vietnamese S-75 site. The typical hexagonal pattern made the sites easy to spot from the air. The Vietnamese later abandoned the layout for this reason.
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