russian defense industry plans to showcase its latest multiple launch rocket system, called Sarma, which russians refer to as "the HIMARS equivalent," at the World Defense Show 2026, to be held February 8–12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is the second time that russia has attempted to present this artillery system "for the first time," even though it was originally unveiled almost two decades ago.
This is reported by Defense News. Although the Sarma MLRS was unveiled three years ago, it is essentially a direct continuation of the experimental 9A52-4 Kama system on a KamAZ-63501 chassis, whose first version was revealed back in 2007. Back then, it was presented as a system designed for Southeast Asian conditions.
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Since then, despite attempts to sell this MLRS, the russian federation has not found any buyer for it. For a long time, neither Kama nor Sarma were considered useful by russian occupation forces. It was only last year that reports emerged claiming russia had purchased 12 MLRS and an additional 12 transport vehicles.
For a long time, russians concealed information about both the serial production and any possible use of the Sarma MLRS on the battlefield. Only earlier this month, russian propaganda media reported that testing of their so-called "HIMARS analog" had begun on the battlefield.
However, there is no real evidence to support this claim—no photos or videos of the vehicle, nor any evidence of destroyed weapons—so this statement remains controversial.
The recently announced data that Sarma allegedly has a maximum range of 200 km is also questionable. The actual range can reach up to 120 km thanks to guided rockets of the 9M544 or 9M549 type.
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