Strela 2

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A soldier posing with a Strela launcher. Photo by GulfLINK.

For the STRELA computer, see Strela computer.

The 9K32 "Strela-2" (Russian 9К32 "стрела-2" - arrow, NATO reporting name SA-7 "Grail") is a man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system similar to the US Army REDEYE, with a high explosive warhead and passive infrared homing guidance. The SA-7 was the first generation of Soviet man portable SAMs, its first version entered service in 1968. Although the SA-7 is limited in range, speed, and altitude, it can force enemy pilots to fly above its effective ceiling, causing increased chance of detection by radar and vulnerability to other air defence systems. The SA-7 is a tail-chase missile system and its effectiveness depends on its ability to lock onto the heat source of low-flying fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

[edit] Development History

A SA-7 missile and launcher.

In the immediate post-WWII period the Soviet air defence doctrine had placed a heavy emphasis on national air defence against nuclear-armed bombers. Numerous long-range, high-altitude SAM systems were developed to counter this threat, but in the meanwhile relatively little development took place in mobile battlefield air defences able to move with army maneuver elements and defend them against low-altitude air attack in a conventional war.

The Korean war showed that the era of conventional war was far from over, and the Soviet Union responded with a 10-year plan that called for several mobile battlefield air defence systems to create a multi-tier system to cover all altitude ranges. The new doctrine listed 5 new requirements:

front-level medium to high altitude area defence system 9K8 Krug (NATO designation SA-4 "Ganef")
army-level low to medium-range area defence system 3K9 Kub (NATO designation SA-6 "Gainful")
division-level low altitude short-range system 9K33 Osa (NATO designation SA-8 "Gecko")
regimental-level all-weather radar-guided gun system ZSU-23-4 "Shilka"
battalion-level very short range systems Strela-1 (NATO designation SA-9 "Gaskin") and Strela-2 (NATO SA-7 "Grail")

Both Strela-1 and Strela-2 were initially intended to be man-portable systems. However, as the Strela-2 proved to be considerably smaller and lighter system, the specifications of the Strela-1 were changed, calling for a heavier vehicle-mounted missile of higher performance to support the ZSU-23-4 gun systems in the regimental air defence role.

As development began in the Turopov OKB (later changed to Kolomna), the detailed information of the US FIM-43 Redeye became available. While it was by no means a simple reverse-engineered copy, in many ways the Strela design borrowed heavily from the Redeye, with which it was developed simultaneously. Development was protracted and many difficulties were faced in designing a sufficiently small seeker head and rocket. Eventually the designers had to settle for a simpler seeker head than that of the Redeye.

The initial version the 9K32 "Strela-2" (US DoD designation SA-7A, missile round 9M32) finally entered service in 1968, 5 years behind schedule.

The Strela-2 was quickly followed by the slightly improved version "Strela-2M" (US DoD designation SA-7B, missile round 9M32M) in 1970, and then a more radical improvement, the 9K36 "Strela-3" (NATO reporting name SA-14 "Gremlin", missile round 9M36).

There is a naval version of this missile. Its NATO reporting name is SA-N-5.

Russian and former Soviet surface-to-air missiles