The 3rd Assault Brigade’s new R-73 launcher.
Maksym Zaichenko photo
Ukraine inherited a substantial stock of R-73 air-to-air missiles when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Normally fired in mid-air by Ukraine’s fleet of Soviet-made Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 fighters, the 230-pound, infrared-guided R-73 chases the heat signatures of hot jet engines out to a distance of up to 19 miles.
Like many air-to-air missiles, the R-73 also works from the ground. So when Ukraine’s inventory of purpose-made heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles—in particular, 9M33s for Osa wheeled launchers—began to run low, it turned to all those leftover R-73s.
Now Ukraine has at least three different ground-based launchers for R-73s: the Gravehawk truck launcher cobbled together by British engineers, as well as a modified Osa launcher and what appears to be a second truck launcher.
The British began building 17 Gravehawks for Ukraine last year. The first R-73-slinging Osa showed up in 2023. The new truck launcher entered the inventory of the Ukrainian army’s 3rd Assault Brigade as recently as this month.
“Despite the respectable age of the tools and limitations of tactical and technical characteristics, we find opportunities to modernize and implement the latest approaches,” 3rd Assault Brigade trooper Maksym Zaichenko wrote.
He’s right—the R-73 isn’t exactly new. It entered service in the early 1980s. But he’s also right that modernization is possible. It’s especially possible in Ukraine.
That’s because, in the early 2000s, the Kyiv Arsenal Central Design Bureau developed a new seeker head for the R-73 during a period when Russian and Ukrainian industry routinely cooperated on munitions production. The MM-2000 seeker was more sensitive and less susceptible to jamming than the R-73’s existing seekers.
It’s unclear whether the R-73s Ukraine is firing from its Gravehawks, modded Osas and other platforms feature an improved seeker. But an improved seeker exists in Ukraine, at least in blueprints. It’d be surprising if Ukrainian forces didn’t take advantage of it as they continue adapting to fill air-defense gaps over the front line.
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