SA-14 Gremlin - Definition and Overview

The 9K36 "Strela-3" (Russian Стрела - arrow, NATO reporting name SA-14 "Gremlin") man-portable air defence missile system (MANPADS) was developed in Soviet Union as a response to the poor performance of the earlier 9K32 "Strela-2" (NATO reporting name SA-7 "Grail") system. 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 infra-red 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 practise 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.

Comparison chart