Ukraine’s Defense Forces Strike Russia’s ‘HIMARS Equivalent,’ Sarma MLRS, for the First Time

Ukraine’s Defense Forces have struck Russia’s “HIMARS equivalent” for the first time — the Sarma multiple launch rocket system.

Footage of the strike was published on the social media channels of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine “Azov”.

As previously reported, Ukrainian defenders repelled a large-scale mechanized assault by Russian occupation forces in the Dobropillia sector. The attacking force included units of the 8th Combined Arms Army, the 41st Combined Arms Army, and the 90th Tank Division of the Russian Armed Forces.

To support its mechanized assault columns, Russian forces also deployed the Sarma multiple launch rocket system. The system was subsequently destroyed by Ukraine’s Defense Forces using a fixed-wing strike drone.

The Sarma is a further development of the Kama program, which aims to create a lighter 300 millimeter multiple launch rocket system capable of firing guided rockets.

Moment of the Sarma multiple launch rocket system strike

In 2023, Russian state media publicly announced for the first time that work was underway on a new multiple launch rocket system mounted on a KamAZ chassis with improved mobility. The launcher was also expected to receive a new automated fire control and targeting system.

The first Sarma prototype was unveiled only two years later at the facilities of Motovilikha Plants. It was revealed that the new system had been made nearly 10 metric tons lighter than the 33 metric ton Tornado-S.

The more compact vehicle, equipped with a launcher reduced to six guide rails, was mounted on the four-axle KamAZ-63501 chassis with an armored cab.

According to procurement documents obtained by Militarnyi, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered two battalions’ worth of systems in 2024, totaling 12 launchers and 12 accompanying transport-loader vehicles.

Each launcher cost the Russian military 155 million rubles, or approximately 1.9 million United States dollars, making it slightly more expensive than the Tornado-S systems mounted on heavy wheeled chassis that were ordered during the same period. Each transport-loader vehicle on the same chassis cost an additional 64 million rubles.

Russia also ordered 300 millimeter rockets during the same procurement cycle, including 9M543 rockets with a non-separable high explosive fragmentation warhead, 9M543L guided rockets, 9M549 rockets equipped with a cluster warhead carrying fragmentation submunitions, as well as the 9M557 and 9M558 rockets, whose specifications remain unknown.

The Sarma is believed to have the same firing range as the Tornado-S, estimated at 90 to 110 kilometers.