The Polish Ministry of National Defence (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej) has issued a tender for repair of 2T7M transporter/transloader vehicles, with a 5 September deadline for responses. The 2T7M is a modified ZIL-131 chassis configured to carry 2K12 Kub (NATO reporting name: SA-6 “Gainful”) mobile surface-to-air missile system. The contractor will also be required to perform MRO services with the BAZ-5939 chassis for the 9T217 TZM reload vehicle, which functions with the 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name SA-8 Gecko) mobile surface-to-air missile system. The MND did not divulge the potential value of the contract in an 8 August post on the official EU tenders database, but it did state that the contract will run from 30 September 2022 to 30 June 2023.
The 2K12 Kub mobile surface-to-air missile system is a Soviet low to medium-level air defence system designed to protect ground forces from air attack. “2?12” is the GRAU designation of the system. Each 2K12 battery consists of a number of similar tracked vehicles, one of which carries the 1S91 25 kW G/H band radar (with a range of 75 km (47 mi)) equipped with a continuous wave illuminator, in addition to an optical sight. The battery usually also includes four triple-missile transporter erector launchers (TELs), and four trucks, each carrying three spare missiles and a crane. The TEL is based on a GM-578 chassis, while the 1S91 radar vehicle is based on a GM-568 chassis, all developed and produced by MMZ.
The fairly large missiles have an effective range of 4–24 km (2.5–15 miles) and an effective altitude of 50–14,000 m (164–45,931 ft). Top missile speed is approx. Mach 2.8. The combined propulsion system 9D16K included solid fuel rocket motor which, when burned out, forms the combustion chamber for a ramjet in a pioneering design putting this missile far ahead of its contemporaries in terms of propulsion. The design concept was for a single self-propelled 1S91 engagement radar system, with an integrated acquisition radar, controlling a group of four 2P25 series Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) vehicles, each with three 3M9 series missile rounds. This battery structure would be supported by several 2T7 transloader/transporters, carried on the ZiL-157 truck.
The 9K33 Osa is a highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and fielded in 1972. All versions of the 9K33 feature all-in-one 9A33 transporter-launcher and radar vehicles which can detect, track and engage aircraft independently or with the aid of regimental surveillance radars. The 9T217 transloader is based on the same chassis as the launch vehicle. It carries 12 missiles and is fitted with a crane to load them onto the launch vehicles. The six-wheeled transport vehicles BAZ-5937 are fully amphibious and air transportable. The road range is about 500 km. The 1S51M3-2 radar system on the 9K33 Osa TELAR received the NATO codename Land Roll.
