Amidst its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Russia continues to develop new weapons. For the first time, Rosoboronexport exhibited two of them – a multiple rocket launcher and an armoured fighting vehicle – at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh, held from 8-11 February.
First up, Rosoboronexport exhibited its Sarma multiple rocket launcher. It is designed to supplement the Tornado-S, with its key attribute being the ability to fire both guided and unguided rockets. It is an improvement upon the Smerch, which fires only guided rockets.
The 28-tonne Sarma comprises an 8×8 truck chassis bearing six tubes for 300mm rockets. However, the rockets have to be manually loaded one by one using a transport-reloader vehicle. It is assumed that Russia will eventually adopt a pod system for swifter reloading.
The Sarma can deploy to a new firing point and launch its rockets within three minutes. The six rockets can be launched in a salvo in 18 seconds.
A spokesperson told Asian Military Review that the Sarma is production-ready, and that it can be considered an equivalent to the US-manufactured HIMARS. It has a top road speed of 95km/h, and has a 1,000km range. A crew of three operates the weapon system.
The rockets come with new warheads: the 9M543 is general purpose, the 9M544 with submunitions against armoured targets, and the 9M549 with anti-personnel submunitions. The guided rockets can reach a arrange of 120km, whereas unguided ones travel 90km.
The Sarma was displayed alongside the Planshet-A artillery fire control system mounted on an ABSh-2 4×4 armoured vehicle. This product from High-Precision Systems, a subsidiary of Rostec, “enables real-time artillery fire control” for self-propelled and towed artillery, plus rocket launchers.
Meanwhile, the 20-tonne BTR-22 is an 8×8 armoured vehicle designed to take on the role of the BTR-82A. Improvements include an engine mounted in the front right of the hull, and it can accommodate three crewmen plus eight passengers.
It reuses some components from the BTR-82A, but it is otherwise a completely new design. It can come with a manned turret featuring a 2A72 30mm cannon and coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, or there is an option for a Ballista unmanned turret.
The latter occupies less space inside the vehicle hull. The 1.65-tonne Ballista features a 2A42 30mm cannon, 7.62mm coaxial machine gun plus two Konkurs-M antitank missiles. It comes with 300 ready rounds for the 30mm cannon, whose barrel can elevate to 75º.
The BTR-22 measures 7.56m long, 3.07m wide and 3.11m high. It is powered by a 330hp engine to a top speed of 85km/h. It also has an amphibious capability.
An official said the BTR-22 is now being readied for production, with some minor modifications and refinements being carried out before the design is finalised.
The representative would not say whether the Russian Army would adopt these two systems, but it presumably will given that they were designed for both domestic and export markets.
by Gordon Arthur
