SAM

A Surface to Air Missile site (SAM) is, as the name would suggest, a ground based system dedicated to launching missiles at your aircraft. This page covers the various SAMs in DCS, their characteristics, typical deployments (as used by real-life militaries), and tactics for mission makers and pilots to be aware of.

SA-2 Guideline

The SA-2 is a Soviet medium range (~20 nm) high altitude SAM system developed in 1957, but continues to see use to this day.

Components

Unit	Function	Loss effect
SAM SR P-19	A basic search radar. Provides intelligence to where aircraft are, but cannot provide missile guidance by itself.	Degradation of SAM threat range to visual.
SAM SA-2 TR SNR-75 Fan Song	Tracks single aircraft at a time, providing a missile firing solution. Cannot locate aircraft beyond visual range without a search radar.	SAM unable to fire or track, effectively disabled.
SAM SA-2 LN SM-90	The actual missile launcher, fires remote-commanded missiles.	SAM unable to fire without missiles, effectively disabled.
Transport Ural-375	Reloads SAM missiles every few minutes.	SAM no longer reloading, will run out of missiles (eventually).

One of the easier systems to evade, the tracking radar is easily fooled via notching and chaff bursts of at minimum 4 per second. It is also completely unable to track targets below about 4,000 ft AGL, leaving it vulnerable to low runs. As a result, sites should also include short range anti-air able to engage at low altitudes, such as AAA guns and MANPADS.