US and NATO allies to send SA-8 SA-10 SA-12 SA-14 air defense missiles to Ukraine.

According to a Tweet published by Jim Sciutto on March 16, 2022, the United States and NATO allies are sending several surface-to-air missiles systems to Ukraine. Citing, a senior US official, the missiles sent to Ukraine include Soviet-era SA-8, SA-10, SA-12, and SA-14 mobile air defense systems.
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United States and NATO allies to supply Soviet-era SA-8, SA-10, SA-12, and SA-14 mobile air defense systems to Ukraine.

The United States has confirmed a new aid of $1 billion to the direct transfer of weapons to Ukrainian forces that will include drones, 800 anti-aircraft systems and 9,000 anti-armor systems, as well as machine guns, shotguns, grenade launchers and 20 million rounds of ammunition.

Sending missiles of Russian origin would allow Ukraine armed forces to counter Russian air attacks with weapons systems that are already in service with the Ukrainian army.

Today, during a video conference with the U.S. Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested one more time more weapons to fight the Russian armed forces as well as a no-fly zone to repel the ongoing Russian invasion.

The SA-8 Gecko NATO code name (Russian name 9K33 OSA) is a Russian-made highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system.

The SA-8 Gecko is armed with 6 missiles ready to fire, mounted on the roof of the vehicle. The missile is tracked by a radio-command guiding system. The Loading platform can carry from 2 to 6 guided missiles. The engagement range for the SA-8 Gecko missile is approximately 2–9 km and engagement altitudes of between 50–5000 m. The 9M33M2 "Osa-A" missile extends the ranges out to 1,500 - 10,000m and engagement altitudes to 25 – 5,000 m. The 9M33M3 missile greatly enhances the altitude engagement envelope to 10 – 12,000 m, and as such are also able to fly further (about 15 km/9 miles) but the system is not able to engage targets at longer ranges, due to other factors such as the radar tracking of the missiles.

SA-8 Gecko 9K33 OSA air defense missile system

The S-300P, NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble is the original version of the S-300 surface-to-air defense missile system which became operational in 1978 with the Russian armed forces.

The S-300P can fire the first generation of V-500/5V55K missile which uses a single-stage solid rocket motor. The maximum effective engagement range of the 5V55K missile is 47 km and could engage its targets between 100 and 30,000 m.

SA-10 Grumble S-300P air defense missile system

The SA-12 Gladiator/Giant, Russian designation S-300V 9K81 is a Russian-made air defense missile system mounted on a tracked armored vehicle. The two-stage 9M83 “Type I Missile” / SA-12A Gladiator and 9M82 “Type II Missile” / SA-12B Giant are the guided missiles used by the S-300V / SA-12 system.

The 9M83 missile is designed to counter weapons employed to deliver dense attacks. It is highly effective against any type of existing and prospective aircraft at ranges of up to 75 km, against SRAM-type aero-ballistic missiles, tactical ballistic missiles of the Lance type at ranges of up to 40 km, and against nap-of-the-earth cruise missiles.

The 9M82 missile is the most powerful weapon, featuring much higher speed characteristics and capable of defeating all of the above-mentioned targets. However, it is designed primarily for the engagement of theater missiles at ranges of up to 35 to 40 km and flying at a speed of up to 3,000 m/s, as well as other high-speed small targets, high-flying (up to 30 km) targets, jammers, and AWACS and HAWKEYE early warning aircraft at ranges of up to 100 km.

SA-12 Gladiator S-300V 9K81 air defense missile system

The SA-14, Russian designation 9K34 Strela-3, is a Russian-made man-portable air defense missile system (MANPADS).

The SA-14 launches the 9M36-1, which is a supersonic missile with an average maximum speed of about 410 m/s. It can engage near-supersonic targets out to 4.1 km or to altitudes of 3 km.

SA-14 Gremin 9K34 Strela-3 MANPADS Man-portable air defense missile system