SA-7

The SA-7 GRAIL or Strela-2 (стрела - arrow) 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.

Development History

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 Krug (NATO: SA-4 Ganef)
• army-level low to medium-range area defence system Kub (NATO: SA-6 Gainful)
• division-level low altitude short-range system Osa (NATO: SA-8 Gecko)
• regimental-level all-weather radar-guided gun system ZSU-23-4 Shilka
• battalion-level very short range systems Strela-1 (NATO: 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 face in designing 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 9K32 Strela-2 (NATO: SA-7a, missile round 9M32) finally entered service in 1968, 5 years late of schedule.

The Strela-2 was quickly followed by the slightly improved version Strela-2M (NATO: SA-7b, missile round 9M32M) in 1970, and then a more radical improvement, the 9K36 Strela-3 (NATO: (NATO: SA-14, missile round 9M36).

Espionage History

At least some technical documentation on the Strela-1 system is known to have been passed to the CIA by the Polish Colonel Ryszard_Kuklinski.

See also: anti-aircraft, anti-aircraft missile, missile, List of missiles