AR Upgrade to Russia’s Air Defense 

AR Upgrade to Russia’s Air Defense 

Photo illust. Verba Wikimedia

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A new upgrade to Russia’s air defense. Its Verba man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) has been equipped with Augmented Reality (AR) elements. 

Verba is a new generation man-portable air defence missile system which entered service with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2014. It is designed to detect and destroy unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and other low-flying air targets. It is capable of operating independently or as part of a battery and can engage targets in the presence of thermal noise, according to army-technology.com.

Its main advantage is a unique homing warhead. The approaching missile uses the heat trap to distinguish between an aircraft or helicopter and selects the right target. New technologies increased the fire zone for targets with small thermal emission and decreased fuel consumption for the destruction of one object. Experts said the upgraded Verba is 1.5-2 times more effective than Igla.

The missile has the capability to destroy targets flying at a speed of 500m/s at altitudes between 10m and 4.5km. It can engage targets in ranges of 500m to 6,500m and its reaction time is eight seconds. It can be deployed in both day and night, under different weather conditions.

The upgraded MANPAD can hit down air targets which have not yet entered the operator’s field of view. All air defense weapons can be united into a single combat network controlled in real time. 

The first MANPAD batches with a new aiming system have been sent to the troops, according to armyrecognition.com.