Russian Army will take delivery of new Buk-M3 advanced air defense missile system in 2016 2912132

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Defence & Security News - Russia
 
 
Sunday, December 29, 2013 11:14 AM
 
Russian Army will take delivery of new Buk-M3 advanced air defense missile system in 2016.
The Russian armed forces will start getting advanced Buk-M3 air defense missile system in 2016, the Air Defense Force's chief said on Saturday, December 28, 2013. The Buk-M3 was presented for the first time during the MAKS 2013 Moscow Air Show with a graphical representation.
     

Drawing of Buk-M3 presented at MAKS 2013, Moscow Air Show.
     

“We are now in the midst of planned rearmament to replace Buk-M1 with Buk-M2. We expect to receive Buk-M3s starting from 2016,” Maj. Gen. Alexander Leonov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

The Buk-M3 medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, a modernized version of the Buk-M1 system (NATO reporting name SA-11 Gadfly), features advanced electronic components and could be regarded as a completely new system.

The launch vehicle is very similar to the Buk-M2 with anew tracked chassis. This new vehicle would be equipped with 6 missile launchers (two rows of three) instead of 4 missiles for previous versions.

The Buk-M3 will feature new radar to increase the range and enhanced overall performance compared with the 9M38 used on the Buk-M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) and Buk-M2 (SA-17 Grizzly) missile systems.