9K34 STRELA-3

The '9K34 Strela-3' (; ) man-portable air defence missile system (MANPADS) was developed in the Soviet Union as a response to the poor performance of the earlier 9K32 Strela 2 (SA-7 Grail) system. "9K34" is its GRAU designation. And its NATO reporting name is 'SA-14 Gremlin'. The missile was largely based on the earlier Strela 2, and thus development proceeded rapidly. The new weapon was accepted to service in the Soviet Army in January 1974.
The most significant change 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 infrared jammers. Most importantly, the new seeker also introduced detector element cooling in the form of a pressurized nitrogen bottle attached to the launcher.
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 or fast and approaching targets.
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'.

Contents

Comparison chart

Comparison chart

System	9K32M Strela-2M (missile: 9M32M)	'9K34 Strela-3' (missile: 9M36)	FIM-43C Redeye
Service entry	1968	'1974'	1968
Mass, full system, ready to shoot	15 kg	'16 kg'	13.3 kg
Weight, missile	9.8 kg	'10.3 kg'	8.3 kg
Length	1.44 m	'1.47 m'	1.40 m
Warhead	1.17 kg (0.39 kg HMX) directed-energy blast fragmentation	'1.17 kg (0.39 kg HMX) directed-energy blast fragmentation. A secondary charge sets off remaining propellant'	1.06 kg M222 (0.36 kg HTA-3) blast fragmentation
Seeker type	AM-modulated (spin scan), uncooled PbS detector element (1–2.8 µm sensitivity range). Tail-chase only.	'FM-modulated (con scan), nitrogen-cooled PbS detector element (2–4.3 µm sensitivity range). Limited forward hemisphere (all-aspect) capability'	AM-modulated, uncooled PbS detector element. Tail-chase only.
Maximum range	4200 m	'4100 m'	4500 m
Speed	500 m/s	'600 m/s'	580 m/s
Target's maximum speed, approaching/receding	310 m/s	'430 m/s'	–/225 m/s
Engagement altitude	0.05-2.3 km	'0.03-3 km'	0.05-2.7 km