Ukraine’s “Come Back Alive” Foundation reported on Wednesday that it had successfully completed project Hornet project aimed at boosting the country’s air defense capabilities by modernizing its Soviet-era 9K33 Osa (NATO: SA-8 Gecko) systems at a cost of more than Hr.14 million ($340,000).
The announcement said, “All the anti-aircraft missile regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that are in service with the Osa SAM have received the upgrades,” adding that they will now be more effective in shooting down drones, helicopters, airplanes, and missiles.
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The improvements are reminiscent of the earlier Ukrainian air force, US funded “FrankenSAM” projects where Soviet-era air defense systems were re-engineered to fire Western, mainly air-to-air missiles as said to have surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs).
The Hornet project has allowed Ukraine’s Osas to not only fire their standard 9M33 surface-to-air missiles, which are in short supply, but also R-73 air-to-air guided missiles, which are currently more plentiful.
The other advantage of the modification was explained by Oleksiy Dubinka a serving member of Ukraine’s armed forces (AFU)who has been acting as a technical advisor to the foundation. He said, “Aviation missiles, such as the R73, have a distinct advantage as they operate on a ‘fire-and-forget’ principle. Unlike the Osa’s standard missiles, the R-73 does not require continuous guidance.”
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He said the other advantage was that it allowed the Osa to be used in a “shoot and scoot” mode: “This upgrade allows the system to relocate immediately after firing, reducing the risk of retaliatory strikes.”
Dubinka pointed out the main difference between the Hornet and FrakenSAM projects. “… the FrankenSAM program uses air-to-air missiles supplied by international partners, while HORNET relies on [Ukraine’s] missiles and SAM systems that have been in service since the 1970s.”
The upgrade allows the Osa’s standard detection and tracking system to locate a target, aim the R-73 missile in the general direction when, after launch, the missile’s homing head will acquire the target on its own.
The R-73 (NATO: AA-11 Archer), that entered service in 1984, is a short-range air-to-air, infrared homing (heat-seeking) missile that is able to detect and engage targets up to 40 degrees off the missile's centerline. It is estimated that when surface-launched the missile will have a range of around 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) compared with when it is air-launched, depending on the variant used, it can engage targets at distances of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles)
In June, Ukraine’s 1129th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment released the first official video on Facebook that showed a prototype Osa equipped with both the standard 9M33 and R-73 missiles bringing down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV - drone) target.
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