Omsktransmash (an affiliate of the Uralvagonzavod concern of Rostec corporation) has delivered to the Russian Defense Ministry a batch of TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrowers under the state order ahead of time. The vehicle was designed to attack enemy fortified positions and lightly armoured vehicles and transports. TOS-1A is not assigned to the artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces but is found in Russian NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) Protection Troops. That is why it does not have a GRAU index but rather an RKhBZ index—MO.1.01.00.
In 2003, the improved TOS-1A Solntsepyok (Blazing Sun) heavy flamethrowers entered service with the range extended to 6 kilometers and a better ballistic computer. In March 2020, Russia introduced a new rocket for the TOS-1A with a range of 10 km, achieved in part by weight and size reductions of a new fuel air explosive mixture in the warhead, while also increasing its power. Minimum range is extended from 400 m to 1.6 km, so the shorter-range M0.1.01.04M rocket will be retained for close combat environments. In 2018, Russian NBC Protection Troops received 30 TOS-1A Solntsepyok 220 mm multiple rocket launchers.
The new heavy flamethrowers are equipped with modern launching equipment, improved built-in dynamic protection, a GPS / Glonass navigation system and a new modification of tracks with a straight lug, which made it possible to increase the convenience of the crew members of the BM-1 combat vehicle and reduce the time for completing the assigned combat mission. Other details of the modernization were not disclosed, it is reported that the work was carried out taking into account a number of design changes.
The TOS-1A Solntsepyok system consists of BM-1 (based on a modified T-72A chassis and fitted with a rotating launch system for 24 unguided thermobaric rockets, two TZM-T ( re-supply vehicles, fitted with a 10 kN crane) and a set of rockets NURS. The BM-1 is fitted with the same equipment as the T-72 tank (NBC protection, fire-fighting, observation etc). Modernized systems with active protection, new engine and launchers and other improvements were delivered in early 2018. The launch vehicle is equipped with a fire control system with a ballistic computer, aiming sight and 1D14 laser range finder. All rockets can be launched within 6 to 12 seconds.
