9K34 Strela-3

9K34 Strela-3
A 9K34 Strela-3 (SA-14) missile and launch tube.
Type	Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS)
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1974–present
Used by	See Operators
Production history
Manufacturer	KBM, Kolomna
Specifications
Weight	10.3 kilograms (23 lb)
Length	1.47 metres (4.8 ft)
Operational range	4100 m
Flight altitude	2,300 metres (7,500 ft)
Speed	410 metres per second (1,500 km/h)

The 9K34 Strela-3 (Russian: 9К34 «Стрела-3»; English: arrow) is a man-portable air defence missile system (MANPADS) developed in the Soviet Union as a response to the poor performance of the earlier 9K32 Strela 2 (SA-7 Grail) system. "9K34" is its GRAU designation, while its NATO reporting name is SA-14 Gremlin. The missile was largely based on the earlier Strela 2, and thus development proceeded rapidly. The new weapon was accepted to service in the Soviet Army in January 1974.

The most significant change over the Strela 2 was the introduction of an all-new infra-red homing seeker head. The new seeker worked on FM modulation (con-scan) principle, which is less vulnerable to jamming and decoy flares than the earlier AM (spin-scan) seekers, which were easily fooled by flares and even the most primitive infrared jammers. The new seeker also introduced detector element cooling in the form of a pressurized nitrogen bottle attached to the launcher.

The effect of cooling was to expand the seeker's lead sulphide detector element's sensitivity range to longer wavelengths (slightly over 4 µm as opposed to 2.8 µm of uncooled PbS elements). In practice this made possible the tracking of cooler targets over longer ranges, and enabled forward-hemisphere engagement of jets under favourable circumstances.The seeker also had better tracking rate, enabling the missile to track maneuvering of fast and approaching targets.

A negative side effect from the aforementioned improvements was increased missile weight, which caused a slight decrease in the kinematic performance of the original Strela-2 (SA-7). Against relatively slow, low-altitude battlefield air threats the overall effectiveness was much improved.