583rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment
Unit Identification
583rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Russian: 583-й гвардейский зенитный ракетный полк), military unit 36226, is a formation of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) within the Air and Missile Defense Troops (PVO). Open-source references attribute S-300PM and S-300PS surface-to-air missile systems to this regiment. Official publications do not routinely disclose detailed order of battle or garrison information for this unit; current precise disposition is not publicly confirmed.
Mission and Operational Role
The regiment’s core mission is continuous air defense of designated facilities and airspace sectors, including detection, tracking, and engagement of aerodynamic targets such as aircraft, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, with limited capability against certain types of short-range ballistic threats when equipped with the S-300PM. It operates as part of a layered integrated air defense system, maintaining round-the-clock readiness and integrating its fire units with higher-echelon command posts and regional sensor networks.
Primary Equipment: S-300PS (SA-10B)
The S-300PS is a self-propelled variant of the S-300P family featuring 5P85S and 5P85D transporter erector launchers (four ready-to-fire missiles per launcher) and the 30N6 engagement radar (Flap Lid), typically supported by 36D6 three-dimensional surveillance radar (Tin Shield) and the 76N6 low-altitude detector. Standard missiles are the 5V55 series (notably 5V55R and 5V55RUD). Public technical data indicate engagement ranges of roughly 75–90 km against aerodynamic targets, engagement altitudes up to around 25–27 km, and rapid emplacement and displacement times on the order of minutes, enabling shoot-and-scoot tactics.
Primary Equipment: S-300PM (domestic variant of the S-300P family)
The S-300PM is an improved variant employing the 48N6 series missiles (commonly cited maximum engagement range up to approximately 150 km against aerodynamic targets) with enhanced guidance, kinematics, and electronic counter-countermeasures compared to the S-300PS. The system architecture typically includes the 83M6 command-and-control system with the 54K6 regimental command post, the 30N6-1 engagement radar, the 64N6 long-range surveillance radar (Big Bird), and the 76N6 low-altitude detector. It provides improved capability against certain short-range ballistic targets within specified velocity and trajectory envelopes.
Organization and Combat Potential
While exact internal structure for military unit 36226 is not publicly disclosed, S-300P-series regiments commonly field two to three firing battalions (divizions). A typical battalion comprises a command post, one engagement radar, supporting surveillance and low-altitude radars, and about eight transporter erector launchers, giving roughly 32 ready-to-fire missiles per battalion. At regimental scale this equates to approximately 64–96 ready missiles, with additional reloads carried on dedicated transport-loader vehicles. Personnel strength for S-300P regiments generally falls within several hundred servicemembers, including command, firing units, technical, and logistics elements.
Command, Control, and Integration
The regiment operates within the VKS automated air defense command-and-control hierarchy. The regimental command post receives target designation and air picture data from sector surveillance assets and higher-echelon command posts, enabling beyond-line-of-sight cueing and coordinated engagements. The S-300PM architecture (83M6 with 54K6) is designed to integrate long-range surveillance radars such as the 64N6 and sector radars like the 36D6 or 76N6, with engagement conducted via the 30N6 series fire control radar. Data links support coordination with adjacent regiments and higher headquarters for deconfliction and layered defense.
Infrastructure and Site Characteristics
S-300P-series regiments typically maintain a garrison with technical maintenance facilities, warhead and missile storage compliant with ordnance safety standards, vehicle parks, and communications nodes. Firing positions may be semi-prepared or prepared sites featuring earthen revetments, circular or polygonal launcher pads connected by internal ring roads, radar masts or platforms, and separated positions for command posts and power units to reduce vulnerability. Although capable of redeployment, regiments often reuse established positions to ensure reliable power, communications, and line-of-sight requirements for radars and engagement operations.
Training and Readiness
Air defense regiments of this type conduct regular technical and tactical training cycles, including simulated and live engagements, electronic countermeasure environments, and rapid redeployment drills. Live-fire events for S-300P-series units are routinely held at the VKS Ashuluk range area in Astrakhan Oblast under the 185th combat training center, where regiments validate engagement procedures against target drones and conduct interoperability drills with adjacent units. Duty crews maintain continuous readiness with prescribed alert rosters, periodic equipment serviceability checks, and missile lifecycle inspections per established technical regulations.
Operational Employment Parameters
Within an integrated air defense network, a regiment equipped with S-300PM and S-300PS can provide medium-to-long range area defense, engage multiple targets concurrently, and contribute to sector coverage against low-altitude and high-altitude threats. The engagement radars can simultaneously track multiple targets and guide several missiles, with typical S-300P engagement doctrine assigning two missiles per target to improve single-shot probability of kill. Survivability relies on emission control, mobility, site dispersion, decoys, and coordination with other layers such as short-range systems and fighter aviation.
Modernization Context
Across the VKS, legacy S-300PS and older S-300PM sets have been progressively supplanted by newer systems such as S-400 and S-350 since the late 2000s, with reequipment proceeding in phases by region and formation. Public sources do not provide authoritative confirmation of a completed reequipment for the 583rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment as of October 2024. Where S-300PS remains in service, it is typically subject to life-extension, selective component upgrades, and integration enhancements to maintain operational utility within a layered air defense posture.
Open-Source Notes and Information Gaps
The designation 583rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment and military unit number 36226 are widely referenced in open-source materials; however, detailed current garrison locations, exact battalion count, precise launcher inventories, and real-time deployments are not consistently published in official sources and may be classified. The equipment attribution to S-300PM and S-300PS aligns with multiple public references, but specific configuration, quantities, and modernization state for this regiment are not conclusively documented in the public domain as of October 2024.