On 27 September we got our first look at Russia’s newest shoulder-fired man-portable air defence system (MANPADS). A short segment in a Russia-1 (state-owned Russian TV channel) News of the Week programme. The report was filmed in the Rostov region and featured a mobile anti-air unit from Russia’s 51st Air Defense Division. It showed off a number of systems used by the unit including a triple PKT machine gun mount and a mount equipped with four AK74s. But most interesting was a new kind of MANPADS, not the typical 9K34 Strela-3, 9K38 Igla or the newer 9K333 Verba which are in current Russian service.
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The report describes the new MANPADS as ‘Iva’ (willow in English), visually is resembles the Iranian Misagh-3 and the Chinese QW-series of MANPADS. The Misagh-3 is a derrivative of the QW series, with the Iva somewhat resembling the QW-18 and QW-19.
While the Iva doesn’t match either the Misagh-3 or the QW series exactly it appears likely that the new Russian system originated from Iran as the two countries have exchanged weapons and equipment regularly over the past decade, including the infamous Shahed-136. Its unclear if the Iva is an imported system: either manufactured in, or exported via, Iran, or if the design is being manufactured by Russia under a license agreement.
The general layout, sights, and controls all point to the Iva’s lineage. There is limited imagery available of the Iranian MANPADS but from what is publicly available it is clear that while similar the Iva’s design is not identical. For example there is an additional box-shaped assembly beneath the front of the missile tube. However, the box-shaped assembly does appear on photograph of the Chinese QW-19 (SK-19) MANPADS. It should be noted that there may be a similar variant of the Iranian missile which hasn’t been publicly seen. Sadly, there a no marking visible in the footage, other than a serial number on the top of the tube but in the short video the operator says that Iva has a range of 4,000m (though its unclear if this is range or altitude ceiling). The footage gives us a good look at the Iva’s transit case which transports two missiles as well as a firing unit/control assembly and four batteries.
In an earlier video/article we have already covered how Ukraine is deploying Chinese MANPADS with intermittent sightings in late 2025 and throughout 2026. Ukrainian units have been photographed using Chinese FN-6 and FN-16 MANPADS.
The appearance of this new non-domestic MANPADS in Russian service highlights Russia’s demand for air-defence missiles as Ukraine continues its long-range drone and missile strikes into Russia. As yet, its unclear how many of these new Iva missiles Russia has in service or how it is procuring them. It also remains to be seen if use of the new missile will proliferate beyond units of the 51st Air Defense Division.
Thank you to Но маллия for digging up the original Russia-1 news report.
