9K38 Igla

9K310 Igla-1 (below) and 9K38 Igla (above)

The 9K38 Igla ( Russian : 9К38 Игла ) is a shoulder-mounted short-range surface-to-air missile from Soviet production. It is used to combat helicopters and fighter planes at low altitudes. The NATO code name is SA-18 Grouse . The latest variant 9K338 Igla-S bears the NATO code name SA-24 Grinch .

development

On February 12, 1971, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union commissioned the development of a new portable anti-aircraft guided missile to replace the 9K32 Strela-2 and 9K34 Strela-3 systems in the late 1970s . There were always delays in development. When the development was still not completed in 1978, an interim solution was decided. The already completed fuselage and rocket motor of the new guided missile was to be further developed into an interim system with the tried and tested seeker head of the 9K34 Strela-3. This system was named 9K310 Igla-1 . It was introduced to the Soviet land forces in 1981 and was given the name SA-16 Gimlet by NATO. After twelve years of development, the 9K38 Igla (NATO code name: SA-18 Grouse) was finally introduced to the Soviet land forces in 1983.

variants

• Basic version 9K38 Igla
• Export version 9K38E Igla-E
• 9K38D Igla-D for parachute and mountain troops. The system can be broken down into two payloads.
• 9K38W Igla-W for air-to-air use with combat helicopters.
• 9K38N Igla-N with new seeker head and larger warhead.
• 9K38M Igla-M (NATO: SA-N-10 Grouse and SA-N-14 Grouse ) for the Navy

9K338 Igla-S (NATO code name: SA-24 Grinch)

• 9K338 Igla-S (NATO: SA-24 Grinch ) with completely new electronics, new ignition system and new warhead

technology

The 9K38 system consists of the following components:

• 9P39 transport and starting container
• 9M39 guided missile
• 9P519 launch and sighting device
• 9P238 Container with thermal battery and coolant for the seeker head

The 9K38 Igla is an anti-aircraft guided weapon equipped with a passive homing head, the detector of which works in the IR / UV range. It works according to the fire-and-forget principle - after firing, the rocket pursues its target independently, the shooter does not have to continue to aim at it as with other models, and after the start there is no longer any connection between the launch platform and the rocket.

A solid rocket motor serves as the drive , which is ignited after the rocket ejected by a gas charge has left the launch tube a few meters. The fragmentation warhead is only detonated by impact; H. the missile must hit the target directly.

More modern digital control electronics were installed in the improved 9K338 Igla-S system. This saved space in the guided missile hull, which is used for the new warhead, a proximity fuse and an enlarged rocket propellant. Igla-S was developed primarily for the export market.

Users

•  Armenia
•  Egypt
•  Brazil
•  Bulgaria
•  Myanmar
•  German Democratic Republic until 1990
•  Eritrea
•  Finland
•  Iraq ( Autonomous Region of Kurdistan )
•  India
•  Indonesia
•  Jordan
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kuwait
•  Malaysia
•  Morocco
•  Macedonia
•  Mexico
•  Nicaragua
•  Peru
•  Russia
•  Serbia
•  Singapore
•  Slovakia
•  Sri Lanka
•  South Korea
•  Syria
•  Thailand
•  Hungary
•  Ukraine
•  Venezuela
•  Vietnam
•  Belarus

In addition to the official users of the 9K38 Igla, a number of systems are suspected to be in the hands of separatists and extremists.

Calls

The 9K38 Igla was used in the armed conflicts in the Balkans and the Caucasus. In Chechnya, Russian helicopters with 9K38 guided weapons of the resistance fighters are said to have been shot down.

In spring 2007, reports came into the media that resistance fighters in the Iraq war recently had modern shoulder-supported Russian-type SAMs after eight US helicopters were shot down with guided missiles within four weeks , which, according to the US, did not come from the Iraqi army. For detailed analysis, the United States procured some of the latest 9K38 systems, according to Aviation Week .

An Ilyushin Il-76 of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down on June 14, 2014 while approaching Luhansk airport, presumably with a 9K38 Igla, killing 9 crew members and 40 paratroopers.

Technical specifications

system	9K38 Igla	9K38N Igla-N	9K338 Igla-S
Guided missile	9M38	9M38N	9M342
Introductory year	1983	1992	2002
length	1.708 m	1.708 m	1.708 m
Hull diameter	72.2 mm	72.2 mm	72.2 mm
Wingspan	160 mm	160 mm	unknown
Weight	10.6 kg	13.1 kg	11.0 kg
drive	1 stage solid	1 stage solid	1 stage solid
Warhead	1.27 kg FRAG-HE	3.2 kg FRAG-HE	2.3 kg continuous rod
Detonator	Impact fuse	Impact fuse	Laser proximity and impact detonators
Airspeed	570 m / s	unknown	600 m / s
Operational range	0.5-5.2 km	0.5-4.2 km	0.5-6.0 km
Bet height	10-3,500 m	10-3,000 m	10-3,500 m
Steering system	passive IR plus photo contrast	passive IR plus UV	passive IR plus photo contrast

See also

• List of surface-to-air missiles

literature

• Land-Based Air Defense Edition 2005 Jane's Verlag
• The SA-18 GROUSE DTIG surface-to-air missile system - Defense Threat Informations Group, May 2005
• On Arrows and Needles by Michal Fiszer and Jerzy Gruszczynski, Journal of Electronic Defense (JED), December 2002.
• RUSSIA'S ARMS 2004 CATALOG Military Parade Publishing House
• RUSSIA'S ARMS AND TECHNOLOGIES. THE XXI CENTURY ENCYCLOPEDIA Volume 9 - Air and ballistic missile defense The Publishing House - Arms and Technologies
• 9K38 Igla (description and technical data, russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Tomasz Szulc: Russian Surface-to-Air Missiles by 2005 . Military Technology Magazine. Volume 28, Issue 8, August 2004, pp. 60-62.
2. ↑ sha / dpa: OSCE observer in Ukraine: allegedly a scientist from Regensburg among the hostages. Spiegel Online , June 14, 2014, accessed September 9, 2014 . 

Web links

Commons : 9K38 Igla  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : 9K338 Igla-S  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• SA-18 on www.warfare.ru (English)
• SA-18 at www.globalsecurity.org (English)
• SA-24 at www.globalsecurity.org (English)
• Detailed system description from DTIG (German)