Sergey Chemezov, CEO of the russian state corporation Rostec, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that deliveries of the Sarma multiple launch rocket system to the military had begun last year. While commenting on the deliveries, the head of Rostec highlighted the system’s advantages, including its firepower, mobility, and high level of crew protection.
This is the first time russians have officially confirmed the delivery of Sarma multiple launch rocket systems to its troops. However, earlier last year, russian media outlets claimed that this MLRS was already being used by russian occupation forces on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, no evidence of this—such as photos or videos of the Sarma—has emerged so far.
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It is also unknown how many of these systems were ordered for the russian Armed Forces or how many have already been delivered, but there are reports that the russian military purchased 12 Sarma systems and 12 transport vehicles to accompany them.
However, this MLRS has seen little success on the export market, despite being showcased by russia at exhibitions for nearly two decades in various forms. Overall, it was designed specifically for the conditions in Southeast Asian countries.
Although the Sarma MLRS was presented this year at the World Defense Show 2026 in Saudi Arabia and news of its development first emerged back in 2023, it is fair to say that the system is at least 19 years old.
In reality, the Sarma is a rebranding of the experimental MLRS designated 9A52-4 Kama, which was unveiled in 2007 and was so unsuccessful that russia eventually resorted to exhibiting only a mock-up.
Although in russia the Sarma/Kama is described as an equivalent to HIMARS, it is also presented as a mobile variant of the Tornado-S. Kama has six launch tubes compared to 12 on the Tornado-S and can strike targets at a range of up to 120 km. Previously, the russians claimed a range of 200 km, which has not yet been confirmed.
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