The Buk missile system (Russian: "Бук"; English: beech) is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the former Soviet Union and Russian Federation and designed to engage cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Buk missile system is the successor to the NIIP/Vympel 2K12 Kub (NATO reporting name SA-6 "Gainful"). The first version of Buk adopted into service carried the GRAU designation 9K37 and was identified in the west with the NATO reporting name "Gadfly" as well as the US Department of Defense designation SA-11. Since its initial introduction into service the Buk missile system has been continually upgraded and refined with the latest incarnation carrying the designation 9K317 "Buk-M2".
Read more about Buk Missile System: Development, Description, Structure
Famous quotes containing the words missile and/or system:
“... the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The golden mean in ethics, as in physics, is the centre of the system and that about which all revolve, and though to a distant and plodding planet it be an uttermost extreme, yet one day, when that planets year is completed, it will be found to be central.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)