Ukraine

Ukraine: German Strela AA Missiles Past ‘Shoot-by’ Date

They were going mouldy and not fit for killing pilots, just their handlers

A strange headline maybe, but I stumbled across this tidbit yesterday when researching Ukraine’s Air Defence Systems.

In March 2022 Germany announced that it was sending 2,700 Strela missiles to Ukraine and I wrote about it here at the time. Old news.

“Robert Habeck’s Economics Ministry announced … that Germany wanted to deliver a total of 2,700 Strela missiles to Ukraine in addition to 1,000 Panzerfaust [anti-tank] and 5,000 [AA] Stinger missiles.” — newsrnd.com

The problems

The Strela-2 (NATO: SA-7 Grail) as offered to Ukraine by Germany was the first generation of Soviet shoulder-launched air defense missiles developed as a result of lessons learned from the Korean War. It has an almost identical design to the US FIM-43 Red Eye, the Stinger’s predecessor.

Reports vary, but it seems that this particular batch of German-owned Strela missiles dates back to circa 1987 when the Soviet Union was on its last legs. According to Wikipedia these were 9K-32 Strela-2 missiles not the later, more effective but still outdated 9M36 Strela-3.

Germany inherited them along with a huge array of other weaponry and aircraft when East Germany was merged into the Federal Republic.

Old and obsolete.

“Due to the obsolescence of the rocket motor, the Strela missile is no longer safe to handle, so it can no longer be fired,” says the classified document.

That is why the annihilation was ordered “already in 2014”. — TFIGlobalNews

In other words, Germany had a heap of junk missiles in a warehouse/ ammunition depot in Baden-Württemberg. The missiles would be expensive to dispose of due to the risks of unstable motors and potentially severe environmental pollution if there was a fire or worse. There was bickering for 8 years plus over the contracts to dispose of the missiles and still no agreement.

So, why not send them to Ukraine? They can dispose of them there, surely…

In fact (dangerous word) it appears that about 700 of the missiles were unfit due to ‘mouldy wooden cases’. Health and safety regulations decreed that troops had to wear protective gear when inspecting the weapons. As in “We don’t want you catching anything nasty from the mould spores but if the weapons blow, well, that’s just part of the job, right?”

There were also stories about cracked motor casings and missing ‘handpieces’:

Since the Bundeswehr phased out the “Strela” system in 2014, the rockets are still available, but no longer have the necessary handpieces to fire them.

Now it is hoped that the Ukrainian army, which still actively uses the system, will have such launchers in stock. — newsrnd.com

I think that this is not quite accurate as the (9K-32 Strela) launch tubes can be reloaded up to five times (but at depot), so you would expect the stocks to include rockets without launch tubes (‘handpieces’?)

And the outcome?

It would appear that 2,000 Strelas (‘arrow)’ were sent to Ukraine by Germany.

They are not very effective anyway, with a very low kill probability. I couldn’t find reliable numbers but it’s of the order of 2–5% at very best against modern aircraft and helicopters (my estimate based on other missile data). There is an analysis here if you’re interested (the original source was inaccessible).

This poor performance is due to outdated seeker technology which is easily fooled by flares and simple infra-red jamming. They have limited engagement angles and poor warhead efficiency, which is why the Strela-3 was developed. And there are another two generations of Russian MANPAD after the Strela 3: the Igla and the Verba.

So, how useful are they to Ukraine?

They would have a limited deterrent effect but would provide distraction to enemy pilots, and consume decoy flares. That’s about all I can imagine they would do unless Ukraine could find a way of enhancing the seeker.

Upgrade to Strela-3 would not be feasible for several major technical reasons (e.g. nitrogen cooled all-new seeker) and re-designee launch tube, besides the aforementioned rocket motor aging/stability.

It seems to me that they are junk.

German ‘Will’

“This [Strela-2 shipment] also raises doubts about Germany’s intentions in helping out Ukraine. It seems that Germany is just fulfilling a formality by sending scrap weapons to Ukraine. It may also be possible that Germany doesn’t have anything useful for Ukraine, therefore they are sending these non-functional missiles to just keep their word.” — TFI Global News

That might have been accurate a couple of months ago but Germany has had a huge wake-up call. However, there are still comments about slow deliveries of other matériel promised by Germany to Ukraine.

I’m quite surprised by the lack of German efficiency in this matter, particularly the storage issue.

So much for Health and Safety policies in a war situation.

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…shoot-by-dates

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