On May 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the head of the state company Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, to take stock of the group’s performance over the past year. As a reminder, Rostec is a Russian state enterprise created at the end of 2007, at the head of an active conglomerate specializing in the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products, intended for both the civil and military sectors.
During their exchange, the CEO announced that deliveries of the Sarma multiple rocket launcher system to the Russian armed forces began last year. He then highlighted the advantages of the system, notably its firepower, its mobility and the high level of protection of its crew. Information that had not previously been made official.
At the beginning of 2025, Russian media revealed that these rocket launchers were already used by Russian forces on the battlefield in Ukraine… But no proof of these assertions was known to observers outside the conflict. The Russian equivalent of HIMARS remains invisible on the ground.
MLRS Sarma: a new version of the Kama experimental rocket launcher
According to information disclosed by the site specializing in defense policies and national security issues Defense Express, the Russian army recently purchased twelve MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) Sarma as well as twelve transport vehicles to accompany them, a small order. Mounted on a KamAZ truck chassis, this system offers great mobility on the front and was presented to President Vladimir Putin during his visit, in September 2025, to the factories of the manufacturer Motovilikha Plants.
But according to the specialist media, this multiple rocket launcher is not as recent as it seems. It would in reality be an evolution of the experimental 9A52-4 Kama system, unveiled in 2007 and considered a failure, to the point that Russia finally gave up presenting anything other than a model. However, it was presented this year at the World Defense Show 2026 in Saudi Arabia.
MLRS Sarma: a competitor to the American HIMARS missile launcher
In Russia, the MLRS Sarma is presented as the equivalent of the American long-range rocket launcher system HIMARS, often praised for its effectiveness on the Ukrainian side. The HIMARS carries six GMLRS rockets, two precision strike missiles (PrSM) or one ATACMS missile, and is designed to launch the entire MLRS family of munitions. It provides maximum compatibility with M270 platform launch systems and MLRS interoperability and simplifies operations, training, logistics and coalition coordination.
The MLRS Sarma is also described as a mobile version of the Tornado-S. It has six launch tubes, compared to twelve for the Tornado-S, and can reach targets up to 120 km range.
