Click to see full-size image. (X)
A new improvised Russian air defense system believed to be built on the bases of the BM-21 Grad multiple launcher was spotted in the Oryol region, fully armed with R-77-1 air-to-air missiles.
A photo purported to show the system moving in the center of the region surfaced online on April 13, although it is unclear when it was exactly taken.
The system first appeared in 2024 in a video from Kapustin Yar, which was released to commemorate the Russian testing ground’s 78th anniversary. The video included footage showing several types of weapons being tested, including the system in question firing a missile that was most likely an R-77-1.
While the system is believed to be built on the bases of BM-21 launchers, which use Ural-4320 6x6x truck chassis, it may be built specifically from the scratch.
In the footage from Kapustin Yar, the system appeared to be equipped with six launch racks arranged in two rows. However, the photo from Oryol shows the system armed with four R-77-1 missiles in a single row.
Click to see full-size image.
The R-77-1 features an inertial navigation system capable of receiving mid-course updates via a data-link, with an active radar homing seeker providing guidance in the terminal phase. The missile could reach speeds as high as 4 Mach. Its range is reported to be around 110 kilometers.
Converting air-to-air missiles into ground-to-air missiles is a well-known concept, utilized by many air defense systems, like the German IRIS-T, Norwegian NASAMS, French VL MICA, Israeli SPYDER. Russia itself experimented with a modified ground-to-air version of the R-77, the R-77-ZRK, back in the 1990s.
That version of the R-77 had a range of just 12 kilometers. Such a major reduction in range is to be expected, however, when converting air-to-air missiles into ground-to-air missiles, as they were originally designed to rely on the speed and altitude of the carrier aircraft to maximize their range.
The new system likely has a similar range to the R-77-ZRK, and considering that the system was reportedly especially designed to counter suicide drones and cruise missiles, this range is more than enough.
While information about the system remains scarce, it can be assumed that it could also fire other types of air-to-air missiles, like R-27s and R-73s.
The system shows how Russia is working to expand its air defenses, especially short-range systems, to counter increasing Ukrainian missile and drone attacks on infrastructure in the country. It surely offers a simple, effective, and practical solution to this threat.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
that isn’t a missile–it is the favorite dildo of russian women!
heheheh