Word: 3s
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...missiles, manned by 3.500 to 5.000 Soviet technicians. Six sites already surround the harbor of Alexandria. Six other sites encircle Cairo, and four more are a short distance away at Cairo West, where Russian forces have established their headquarters in a for mer British base. Four clusters of SA-3s protect the Aswan High Dam, two more are believed to be at Baltim on the Mediterranean coast, and others are at the Russian bases at Mansura and Inshahs. The number of SA3 sites, each with eight missiles and 100 to 150 men, may eventually reach about...
Since the SA-3s' radar is incapable of tracking targets below 500 ft., Israeli pilots are said to be training to fly at 200 ft.-even at night. The Soviet answer is a new and reportedly highly effective defense system called ZSU234, which could be used to protect the SA3 sites against ground-hugging planes if the Israelis should eventually decide to attack them. The ZSU234 is a fourbarreled, 23-mm., radar-directed light antiaircraft weapon mounted to a tanklike tracked vehicle...
Many Westerners consider it unlikely that the Soviets really intend to invite Israeli attacks by moving so close to the canal. Normally, the SA-3s and their systems are housed in two low, rectangular, 40-ft.-long buildings that hold missiles, computers, radar and other electronic controls. One radar system, which requires a 65-ft. tower, is code-named "Squat Eye" by NATO; another is called "Low Blow." Both are fully visible from the air, and also are detectable by electronic reconnaissance. Yet neither Israeli recon flights nor U.S. electronic snooping devices have so far uncovered evidence of missile sites...
Finally, there is no tactical reason for the Russians to risk installing SA-3s along the canal. They have accomplished their objective−neutralizing Israeli raids into Egypt, building up Egyptian defenses and binding the Arabs even more closely to Moscow−with the missiles that are already in place in the interior of Egypt. To send SAMs or pilots to the 25-mile strip west of the canal, over which Israel has proclaimed air superiority, would be to risk a military confrontation that Russians are not believed to want...
...Alexandria before there were SA-3s-I am not sure we won't go one day-because we simply have not found it necessary to bomb these places. They are civilian targets. But along the Suez Canal, I don't care who is manning the weapons. We must be in a position where air superiority along the canal is ours...