The brigade was formed in 1955–56, after the arrival of a Soviet Army mission, led by Marshal D.D Solovski, a veteran of World War II. They assisted Minister Daoud Khan with modernizing and re-arming the Afghan Army, using missile systems of the Soviet 111th Missile Brigade.[3] The brigade participated in the Battle of Jalalabad in 1989. Soldiers of the brigade were awarded by President Najibullah for their actions during their defense of Khost.[4][5] After the resignation of Mohammad Najibullah in April 1992, Ahmad Shah Masoud's forces captured the 99th's Scud missile launchers, however, the 99th Missile Brigade ditched their uniforms and left, leaving Massoud’s forces with no way of operating their newly acquired Scud launchers.[6][7][8]
In the same year, units of the 99th Missile Brigade in western Kabul were overran by Shia mujahideen factions Hezb-e-Wahdat and Harakat-i-Islami, although the missile operators safely fled. As a result, the two factions could not launch their newly-acquired Scud missiles, only using them for show during military parades in the capital.[10]
The 99th Missile Brigade was armed with S-125 Neva/Pechora surface-to-air rocket systems, as well as S-75 Dvina surface-to-air rockets systems used by the Royal Afghan Air Defense.[11] They had 18 S-125 Neva/Pechora SAMs in 1992, and in the same year,[citation needed] at least 2000 missiles had been launched by the brigade. The 99th Missile Brigade's usage of Scuds was the most intensive – and less well-known – use of the weapon. The 99th Missile Brigade had a large quantity of Scud-Bs and some Scud-Cs as well.[12]
^Zaloga, Steven J. (2006-02-28). Scud Ballistic Missile and Launch Systems 1955-2005: No. 120. Lee Ray, Jim Laurier (Illustrated ed.). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1-84176-947-9.
^Wings over the Hindu Kush: Air Forces, Aircraft and Air Warfare of Afghanistan, 1989-2001 (Asia@War): Amazon.co.uk: Müller, Lukas: 9781913118662: Books. ASIN1913118665.
