A medium-range air defense missile system with a Belarusian-made missile is currently undergoing the final stage of its trials in Belarus, Chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee (Gosvoenprom) of Belarus Dmitry Pantus said in an interview with the STV channel: “It is worth noting the launches of a medium-range air defense missile system. There were three stages of testing, and in the first quarter of 2022 we have reached the final stage of the trials, they will be carried out literally in a week, final tests with live-firing, after which it will be possible to say with confidence about the development of a completely Belarusian-made air defense missile system, our own domestic missile,” the committee’s chairman said.
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New Belarusian 9A33-2B modernized version of OSA 9K33 Russian-made air defense missile system. (Picture source : Army Recognition)

According to Dmitry Pantus, “The missile is of primary importance. First of all, the talk is about the economy and competencies. Today, this is the top for us, the key area, to which we pay special attention. The development of weapons is one of our key tasks”, he explained. He went further, explaining that Belarusian defense contractors are working in two key areas, in particular, the development of air defense weapons and electronic warfare and electronic intelligence means: “As for weapons, the upgrade of the Osa air defense missile system has been completed recently. Today, it is undergoing tests at the Defense Ministry and special attention is being paid to it as well”, Pantus said. “Of course, there are the Belarusian-made medium-range air defense missile systems and our own missiles. I believe that we will complete this R&D work in 2022 and the delivery of items to our armed forces will begin under the state armament program,” the committee’s chairman added.

In August 2021, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus was interested in deliveries of Russian-made S-400 (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) air defense missile systems but the country did not have enough money to purchase them. The Belarusian air and air defense forces operate Tor-M2 (SA-15 Gauntlet) air defense missile systems purchased from Russia. Several Belarusian enterprises specialize in repairing and upgrading these weapon systems in addition to Russian-made S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) and Buk (SA-17 Grizzly) systems.

On August 6, 2020, Army Recognition published information about the first tests of Belarusian 9A33-2B modernized version of the 9K33 Osa air defense missile, reporting that the Belarus defense industry had launched a program to modernize its Soviet-made Osa 98K33 under the name of 9A33-2B. The new system was to be fitted with new radio-electronic equipment to increase the capabilities of the air defense system in terms of detection and tracking and to improve the guidance system of the missiles.

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