MOSCOW, September 14 (AVN) - Specialists of Russia's Antei consortium have started preliminary marketing research on the Arfican market of the Osa air defence missile system modernisation, a spokesman for the consortium's administration said on Thursday.
The research began after the South African Armscor corporation proposed joint modernisation of Osa systems earlier purchased by African armies, the spokesman told the Military News Agency.
After the parties work out a bilateral agreement on the matter, Armscor will also start a marketing campaign. Then a group of Russian experts will leave for South Africa to examine the systems made from 1982-1985 and develop specific proposals concerning their modernisation. According to preliminary data, the modernisation will be effected by Armscor plants on Russian technology.
The 9K33 Osa self-propelled autonomous missile system is intended for protection of troops and installations in the battle array of motorised rifle or tank formations both in battle and on the march from aerial attacks. It is capable of hitting targets at ranges of two to nine kilometres and heights of 50 to 5,000 metres, if their speed does not exceed 420 metres per second. The system ensures hitting 35 to 85 percent of targets.
Osa was designed by a group of constructors led by Veniamin Yefremov. It was adopted by air defence units of the the USSR Land Forces in 1972 and later supplies to the Warsaw Pact member states, India, Iraq and other nations of the Middle East, Asia and Africa.