The arrest of the arms smuggler recently trying to sell a SAM got me thinking. Could someone explain to me something about the SAM they were trying to smuggle, I read somewhere it was better than the SA-7 and had been used to quite devastating effect against the Russians in Chechnya recently, an update on portable SAMS would be appreciated, last time I read anything about them was in the 80’s, when the SA-7’s and Stingers were the best?
The SA-18 is a shoulder-fired surface-air heat-seeking missile, designed to shoot down low-level planes and helicopters.
Made in Russia, it is much more advanced and accurate than the SA-7 used in a failed attempt in November 2002 to shoot down an Israeli charter in Kenya.
Aerodynamic improvements give it a better range and speed and its infrared tracking device is designed to avoid decoys.
Each missile weighs about 30 to 40 pounds (13.6 to 18.1 kilograms) and could fit inside a golf bag, counterterrorism expert Brian Jenkins told CNN.
Sources estimate the missile would cost about $100,000 on the open market.
It has a 30-48 percent chance of bringing down an unprotected fighter jet, and infrared jammers only reduce that probability to between 24 and 30 percent.
The missiles were used first by the Soviet military but many entered the black market after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In November 2002, Russian experts said thousands of SA-18s and similar missiles had been smuggled out of military arsenals during the 1990s, the UK Press Association reported.
• Length: 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 meters)
• Maximum range: 17,000 feet (5,200 meters)
• Maximum altitude: 11,500 feet (3,500 meters)
• Payload: 4.6 pounds (1.27 kilograms) high explosive
• Tracking: Dual-channel passive infrared
• Maximum target engagement speed: 710-900 miles per hour (1,140-1,450 kilometers per hour)
• Deployment time: 13 seconds
Some comparative info:
- SA-18 GROUPS (IGLA 9K38) SA-N-10 GROUSE (IGLA M) - The SA-18 GROUSE (Igla 9K38) is an improved variant in the SA-7 & SA-14 series of man-portable SAMs. As with the earlier SA-14, the SA-18 uses a similar thermal battery/gas bottle, and the SA-18 has the same 2 kilogram high-explosive warhead fitted with a contact and grazing fuse. But the missile of entirely new design with substantially improved range and speed. The new seeker and aerodynamic improvements extend its effective range, and its higher speed enables it to be used against faster targets. The SA-18 has a maximum range of 5200 meters and a maximum altitude of 3500 meters.
The 9M39 missile SA-18 employs an IR (Infra Red) guidance system using proportional convergence logic. The new seeker offers better protection against electro-optical jammers; the probability of kill against an unprotected fighter is estimated at 30-40%.
- SA-16 GIMLET (Igla-9K310) man-portable surface-to-air missile system, a further development from the SA-7 & SA-14 series, is an improved version of the SA-18 GROUSE, which was introduced in 1983, three years before the SA-16. The SA-16 features a new seeker and modified launcher nose cover. Whereas the SA-18 9M39 missile is fitted with an aerodynamic spike on the nose, the 9M310 missile of the SA-16 has the spike replaced with an aerodynamic cone held in place with a wire tripod. On the SA-18 the protective cover of the seeker is conical, on the SA-16 it is tubular with a prominent lip at the forward edge.
The 9M313 missile of the SA-16 employs an IR (Infra Red) guidance system using proportional convergence logic, and an improved two-colour seeker, presumably IR and UV (Infra Red and Ultra Violet). The seeker is sensitive enough to home in on airframe radiation and the two-colour sensitivity is designed to minimize vulnerability to flares. The SA-16 has a maximum range of 5000 meters and a maximum altitude of 3500 meters.
- Missile 9M39 of the portable anti-aircraft missile system “Igla” (9K38) is designed for defeat of visually observed jet, turbo-prop and piston-engined aircrafts and helicopters on head-on and tail-on courses under conditions of influence of natural (background) and false heat jammings.
The missile is fired by a gunner from the shoulder in a standing or kneeling position from a fire position on the terrain providing good observation of air space. PAMS “Igla” possesses automatic introduction of elevation and lead angles, deep destruction of warhead, uses detonating fuel in propulsion system and displacement circuit in a homing head ensuring the missile hit into the most vulnerable components of the target and allows to defeat effectively modern aircrafts and helicopters of enemy.
This baby is very accurate and quite effective also one intresting thing it has a IR system similar to the Stinger!!! If those nasty’s get a hold of this baby just consider the concquences!!! 
Anyway hope that helped