- Yes
- No
The Sosna, which is due to enter service in the coming years (and in light of real life experience, may go through further iterations before entering service), differentiates itself from the bigger SPAA by being a purely passive system. Meaning that it doesn´t have a radar, making it so much harder for enemy aircraft to locate and engage. Instead, its thermal optic can automatically recognize and track enemy aircraft and missiles within its FOV up to 25-30km in range. The system can also rotate automatically or perform sector search. The Sosna can receive the location of enemy targets detected by other radar equipped systems via networked connections.
Its 9M340 missiles are reminiscent of the Tunguska or the Pantsir, but they are smaller and feature a different guidance system that is a dual type: radio command at the beginning of the flight after which the missile switches to laser beam riding at the terminal phase. This means that the enemy aircraft has a very short laser warning time. In addition, the passive nature of the whole system allows it to engage aircraft at lower altitudes than a radar can handle. Furthermore, the SACLOS guidance makes it virtually immune to countermeasures deployed by the enemy, the only way to break the tracking would be to completely break LOS with the Sosna. The missile has a maximum range of 10km and 5km in altitude, achieving velocities of more than 900m/s and can sustain a whopping 40g. Sosna can fire and guide missiles even while on the move.
Finally, the choice of the BMP-3 chassis instead of the venerable MTL-B ensures high mobility performance and commonality with the vehicles its supposed to accompany. A version of the same system is being worked on for the VDV, using the same Sosna system on a BMP-4M chassis.
Tactical and technical characteristics
Target engagement range, km 1.3-10
Flight altitude of targets to be hit, m 2-5000
Reaction time, s 5
Reload time, min 10
Optical-electronic control system
Guidance angle range, deg:
azimuth ±178
elevation from -20 to 82
Maximum angular velocity, deg/s 50
Maximum angular acceleration, deg/s2 150
Field of view, deg:
television system 2.0x3.0 /6.5x9.0
thermal imaging channel 1.67x2.5 /8.0x12.0
Target acquisition range for automatic tracking at MDV=15 km, p=80%, km:
aircraft 16-30
helicopters 10-14
cruise missiles 8-12
armored objects 8
Accuracy (RMS):
stabilization, mrad 0.07
of coordinate determination, mrad 0.2
of range determination, m 5.0
of LD guidance 0.1
of LLCU information field guidance, mrad 0.08-0.12
Rocket 9M340 “Sosna-R”
Zone of destruction, km:
by range: 10
by height: 5
Flight speed, m/s:
maximum 875
average taking into account guidance 565
Total mass of warhead, kg 6.9
Weight of SAM, m:
launch 30.6
in TPK 42
Caliber, mm:
before division 132
after division 72
Length of the SAM, mm:
in flight 2317
in the TPK 2400
Vehicle specifications:
Vehicle mass: 18-20t
Max speed: 70 km/h (forwards) - 20 km/h (reverse)
Crew: 3
Armor: same as BMP-3
Hull dimensions: same as BMP-3
In summary
All in all, this vehicle ingame would compliment the existing Tunguska or Pantsir, being better and worse than it depending on the situation. It would boast good mobility, better protection to the crew against MGs and some medium caliber rounds. However it would lack the situational awareness an early warning radar could give (for which it must rely on teamplay), but in return this vehicle would be undetectable by aircraft and helicopters until its too late (that is, the final stage of missile approach to target, when it switches to laser beam riding) and once it locks to a target, it would be pretty much immune to any kind of countermeasure. On the down side, the lack of autocannons would make this vehicle a little less useful when it comes to ground combat, even if its missiles can have some effect on ground vehicles.
So, what do you think?
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190329130855/https://vz.ru/news/2019/3/29/970597.html
http://roe.ru/esp/catalog/marina-de-guerra/armas-de-la-nave/palma/
https://topwar.ru/159232-zrk-sosna-ochevidnye-preimuschestva-i-zametnye-nedostatki.html
http://bastion-opk.ru/sosna-r/