1,800 metres (5,900 ft) vs. jets
3,000 metres (9,800 ft) vs. slow moving targets
Maximum speed
470 metres per second (1,700 km/h; 1,100 mph)
The 9K34 Strela-3 (Russian: 9К34 «Стрела-3», 'arrow', NATO reporting name: SA-14 Gremlin) is a man-portable air defense missile system (MANPADS) developed in the Soviet Union as a response to the poor performance of the earlier 9K32 Strela-2 (SA-7 Grail) system. The missile was largely based on the earlier Strela 2, and thus development proceeded rapidly. The new weapon was accepted into service in the Soviet Army in January 1974.
Description
The most significant change over the Strela 2 was the introduction of an all-new infra-red homing seeker head. The new seeker worked on FM modulation (con-scan) principle, which is less vulnerable to jamming and decoy flares than the earlier AM (spin-scan) seekers, which were easily fooled by flares and even the most primitive infraredjammers. The new seeker also introduced detector element cooling in the form of a pressurizednitrogen bottle attached to the launcher.
Strela-3 (SA-14) components
The effect of cooling was to expand the seeker's lead sulphide detector element's sensitivity range to longer wavelengths (slightly over 4 μm as opposed to 2.8 μm of uncooled PbS elements). In practice this made possible the tracking of cooler targets over longer ranges, and enabled forward-hemisphere engagement of jets under favourable circumstances. The seeker also had better tracking rate, enabling the missile to track maneuvering of fast and approaching targets.
A negative side effect from the aforementioned improvements was increased missile weight, which caused a slight decrease in the kinematic performance of the original Strela-2 (SA-7). [citation needed] Against relatively slow, low-altitude battlefield air threats the overall effectiveness was much improved.[citation needed]
Strela-3 missiles have been exported to over 30 countries.
The original Strela-3 missile was the 9M36. The follow-on to the Strela-3 was Igla.
The naval version of this missile has the NATO reporting name of SA-N-8.
On 6 May 2006, a British Westland Lynx AH.7 of the Royal Navy from 847 Squadron was shot down with a Strela-3 over Basra, killing five crewmen and crashing into a house.[1]
Georgia
During the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down by a Georgian Army SA-14 on December 14, 1992, resulting in the death of 3 crew and 58 passengers, most of them Russian refugees. A Georgian Air ForceSu-25 was shot down over Nizhnaya Eshera on 4 July 1993 by SA-14,[2] and several other aircraft on both sides may have been shot down by SA-14s.[3]
A Zimbabwe Air ForceIl-76 was shot down by Congolese rebels using an SA-14 on 11 October 1998 during the Second Congo War, resulting in the death of 40 troops and crew.[4]
O'Halloran, James C.; Foss, Christopher F., eds. (2002). Jane's Land-Based Air Defense 2002-2003 (15th ed.). Janes Information Group. ISBN978-0-7106-2437-6.
Petukhov, Sergei I.; Shestov I.V. (1998). Istorija sozdanija i razvitija vooruzhenija i vojennoi tehniki PVO suhoputnyh voisk Rossii, 1.-2 [History of design and development of missile systems and military systems of AAW of Russian Land Forces]. VPK Publishing.