The battery usually also includes four triple-missile transporter erector launchers (TELs), and four trucks, each carrying three spare missiles and a crane.

[3] The system was set the requirements of being able to engage aerial targets flying at speeds of 420 to 600 m/s (820–1,200 kn) at altitudes of 100 to 7,000 m (330 to 23,000 ft) at ranges up to 20 km (12 mi), with a single shot kill probability of at least 0.7.

Kub downed its first-ever air target on February 18, 1963, during the state trials at Donguz test site, Orenburg Oblast.

For instance, Polish WZU of Grudziadz demonstrated a project of a Sparrow-armed Kub at the MSPO 2008 defence exhibition in Kielce.

The system is able to acquire and begin tracking targets using the 1S91 "Самоходная установка разведки и наведения" (SPRGU - "Self-propelled Reconnaissance and Guidance Unit" / NATO: "Straight Flush" radar) at 75 km (47 mi) and begin illumination and guidance at 28 km (17 mi).

On the latest models, this vehicle is also fitted with an optical tracking system which allows engagement without the use of the radar (for active RF emissions stealth reasons, or due to heavy ECM jamming) in which case the effective altitude is limited to 14 km/46000 ft.

The missile was fitted with a semi-active radar seeker 1SB4, designed by MNII Agat, which was able to track the target by Doppler frequency since the start.

In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Egyptian and Syrian 2K12s surprised the Israeli military, who were accustomed to having air superiority over the battlefield.

[12] The superior low altitude performance of the weapon, and its new CW semi-active missile seeker resulted in a much higher success rate compared to the earlier S-75 Dvina and S-125 Neva systems.

[clarification needed] Early in the 1982 Lebanon war, the Israeli Air Force concentrated on suppressing the SAM threat in the Beqaa Valley, launching Operation Mole Cricket 19.

While Syria's own air defenses remained largely intact, its forces in Lebanon were left exposed to attacks by Israeli strike aircraft for the remainder of the war.

[14] The People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) procured a number of 2K12 Kub systems from the Soviet Union in 1981.

[15] According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Angola had obtained sixteen TEL launchers for the 2K12 Kub systems, which were deployed in the Moçâmedes District.

[18] On 26 June 1988, six 3M9M3 missiles launched from a Cuban 2K12 Kub battery were fired at a South African weather balloon being used as a radar decoy over Tchipa.

[18] South African observers used the firing data to plot the location of the 2K12 Kub launchers and destroyed them in a concentrated bombardment with G5 howitzers.

On 16 February 1986, the system failed in detecting low flying French jets which were attacking the Ouadi Doum airbase.

On January 7, 1987, the French Air Force were successful in destroying a 2K12 Kub radar site in the Faya Largeau area with SEPECAT Jaguars armed with Martel anti-radiation missiles.

[21] In March, the Chadian rebels captured Ouadi Doum air base, seizing virtually all heavy equipment used for the defense of this airfield, intact.

The threat posed by these SAMs led to the US Navy outfitting the ALQ-167 Bullwinkle Jamming pod on their F-14A/A+ Tomcats and A-6E TRAM/SWIP Intruder aircraft.

[30] Shortly following this incident, General George Lee Butler announced that the gunner position on B-52 crews would be eliminated, and the gun turrets permanently deactivated, commencing on 1 October 1991.

[31] On January 19, 1991, a USAF F-16 (serial 87-228) was shot down by a 2K12 Kub during the massive (though ill-fated) Package Q Strike against a heavily defended Baghdad.

[33] Kubs continued to be used by the Iraqi military, along with other SAM systems, to challenge the Western imposed no-fly zones during the 1990s and early 2000s.

In one incident, on September 11, 1996, during Operation Provide Comfort II, one missile was fired against two USAF F-16 in northern Iraq but missed.

[34] On December 30, 1998, a 2K12 Kub site near Talil fired 6-8 missiles at aircraft enforcing the Southern Watch component of the NFZ.

American F-16s responded by dropping six GBU-12 laser-guided bombs on the site and also launching two HARMs "as a preemptive measure" to warn Iraqi radar operators against carrying out more firings.

Using shoot and scoot tactics, the self-propelled ground system demonstrated a good survivability with only three radars lost in the face of nearly four-hundred AGM-88 shots.

[40] On April 14, 2018, American, British, and French forces launched 103 air-to-surface and cruise missiles targeting sites in Syria.

Later, United Yemen purchased a large number of these systems in the 1990s and they entered service with the Yemeni air defense forces in 1999.