9K33 Osa - Variants

Variants

• 9K33 "Osa" (US DoD designation SA-8A "Gecko") began development in 1960 and was introduced in 1971-1972 with four exposed 9M33 missiles per TELAR 9A33B and a maximum range of 12 km (7.5 mi).
• 9K33M "OSA-M" (NATO reporting name SA-N-4 "Gecko") was introduced in 1972 and is the naval version of the system with two 9M33M missiles on a Zif-122 retractable rotating launcher and improved performance. It has been installed on Kara class guided missile cruisers, Kiev class VTOL cruisers and also the Kirov, Slava and Krivak classes.
• 9K33M2 "Osa-AK" (US DoD designation SA-8B "Gecko Mod-0") with TELAR 9A33BM2 was introduced in 1975 with the new six-missile box launcher, each 9M33M2 missile being a sealed round.
• 9K33M3 "Osa-AKM" (US DoD designation SA-8B "Gecko Mod-1") with TELAR 9A33BM3 and missiles 9M33M3 was introduced in 1980 with the maximum range extended to 15 km (9.3 mi) and maximum altitude to 12 km (40,000 ft) as explained above. Most OSA-AKM systems also feature an IFF antenna.
• Saman and Saman-M (Russian Саман – adobe) is a development of the Osa\Osa-M system into target drones, used for testing and training with air defense systems, including SAMs.

The 9K33M3 is also able to utilize the 9A33BM3 missiles which are wire-guided, presumably for use in an ECM-heavy environment where the radio command guidance may not operate properly.