Russia equips Verba MANPADS aid defense systems with Augmented Reality elements.

Russia has equipped Verba man-portable aid defense systems (MANPADS) with Augmented Reality (AR) elements. The weapon received a unique guidance provision, the Izvestia daily writes.

9K333 Verba MANPADS (Picture source: Vitaly Kuzmin)

The upgraded MANPAD can hit down air targets which have not yet entered the operator’s field of view. All air defense weapons can be united into a single combat network controlled in real time. The first MANPAD batches with a new aiming system have been sent to the troops.

The supplies of a brigade set of Verba which will replace Igla will be completed this summer, Defense Ministry sources told the newspaper. The guidance information comes from a portable radar of the MANPAD battery. The mobile Garmon system can detect air objects at a distance of 40 km. The MANPAD battery can connect with more powerful aid defense weapons and receive information from them. The data on air situation and the assigned target will be reflected on the screen of the aiming device thanks to augmented reality technology.

The operator receives data on incoming objects from the control system and radar before the targets enter the destruction zone. The commander of a missile-artillery battalion said the advantages of MANPADS include mobility and it is difficult to detect them by electronic means. It provides major tactical capabilities, e.g. for ambushes in the enemy rear.

Verba was designed and tested in post-Soviet time and accepted into service in 2015. Its main advantage is a unique three-specter homing warhead which operates in ultraviolet, medium and close infrared bands. The approaching missile uses the heat trap to distinguish between an aircraft or helicopter and selects the right target. New technologies increased the fire zone for targets with small thermal emission and decreased fuel consumption for the destruction of one object. Experts said the upgraded Verba is 1.5-2 times more effective than Igla.

The new control system unites all Verba units into a single force. Each operator can see the target location and its parameters. Platoon or battery commander can distribute targets from his workplace and engage massive or concentrated fire.

Verba units began to receive platoon command vehicles and operator’s combat vehicles. The latter can reconnoiter targets and attack them with homing missiles.

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