This was listed on an old auction thus " Rocket Launcher Wasp Vintage Rare Baz Osa USSR military toy Soviet Anti-aircraft Missile System Armoured Car NATO classification SA-8 Gecko."
I don't know what it means but I love the design and the metallic sheen! What do you say readers?
Since NATO only had a limited amount of information on Soviet-era equipment, and often did not even know the correct designations, a system of code names, or reporting names, was developed. This was similar to the system used in WW2 for Japanese aircraft. Surface to air guided missiles were designated SA, followed by a type number, and a code name beginning with the letter G. The SA-8 means the eighth type of Soviet land-based surface to air missile known to the West, with Gecko being the code name.
ReplyDeleteThe Gecko system was developed in the 1960s, and first deployed in the 1970s. It has a quadruple missile launcher mounted on a six-wheeled amphibious vehicle. Not sure about it being armoured though - looks more like a soft skin ?
According to Wikipedia, Osa is Russian for Wasp, the name of the vehicle.
Looks like something Joe 90 would be sent in to steal from a 'hostile government'.
ReplyDeleteIt is groovy! Its kind of a sexed-up version of the basic SCUD Missile Launcher, a ubiquitous design since the 1980s. The metallic green makes it though!
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