9K310 Igla-1

The 9K310 Igla-1, known to NATO as the SA-16 Gimlet, is a Soviet man-portable surface-to-air missile system built around a solid-propellant guided missile. It is a simplified version of the Igla, the SA-18 Grouse, which entered service in 1983, and the Igla-1 followed three years later. The system is meant to destroy low-flying aircraft and helicopters, and the missile can be fired to follow a target or to meet it head on. The 9M313 missile uses infrared guidance with proportional convergence logic and an improved two-color seeker, presumably sensitive to both infrared and ultraviolet light, which is intended to reduce its vulnerability to decoy flares. The seeker is sensitive enough to home in on radiation from an airframe. Visually, the 9M310 missile replaces the aerodynamic spike of the SA-18 round with a cone held by a wire tripod, and its launcher carries a tubular nose cover with a prominent lip. Maximum range is about 5,000 meters and maximum altitude about 3,500 meters.