Before russia launched its all-out attack on Ukraine in 2022, its military-industrial complex had actively demonstrated at various exhibitions its novel short-range air defense system with the export name Sosna. This mobile surface-to-air missile launcher was conceived as a successor to its older peer Strela-10 but was never seen used by the russian army.
Now the russians have decided to rebrand this development under the new name Krona-È and began promoting it for export as a supposedly new system designed specifically to combat UAVs.
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More specifically, russian media report that Kalashnikov Group is planning to hold a presentation of Krona-È during the IDEX 2025 exhibition, which is to be held in the United Arab Emirates on February 17–21, 2025.
The russians claim that their Krona-È is the "latest development" designed to protect important facilities from various drones. The attached image of the Krona-È, however, indicates that the product is more of a variant of the said Sosna air defense system on the BTR-82 chassis, first presented during the Armiya-2021 forum.
There is one important detail, though: they claim that Krona-È can use not only the 9M340 anti-aircraft missiles for the Sosna air defense system but also the older 9M333 missiles for the Strela-10.
As for the specifics about the Sosna, it's another classic long-runner from the russian military industry. The development of this system started back in the 1990s, the first presentation took place in 2013, and in June 2019, the Ministry of Defense of russia even announced the adoption of Sosna into service, although there were no reports of actual deliveries to the troops.
Instead, there were reports that this air defense system was demonstrated in versions on the MT-LB, BMP-3, and BTR-82 chassis, and the command of russian airborne troops wanted its own variety mounted on the BMD-4M, named Ptitselov.
A notable feature of the 9M340 anti-aircraft missile for the Sosna complex is its two-stage design, smaller dimensions, and higher characteristics compared to the previous-generation 9M333 for the Strela-10. With a launch weight of 42 kilograms (with a transport-launch container), the 9M340 has a declared range of 10 km and an operating altitude of up to 5 km; meanwhile, the same parameters for the 9M333 would be 72 kg, a range of 5 kilometers and up to 3 km, respectively.
It is quite indicative that the russians never speak about adopting this very complex Krona-È for their own use, so this rebranding is just one of the many attempts by Moscow to maintain its influence in the global arms market.
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