The system is currently undergoing trials at the firing ground of KB Mashinostroyenia (Machine Building Design Bureau) in the Moscow region’s city of Kolomna, where engineering experts are testing the missiles on all kinds of targets, including tanks, helicopters, concrete fortifications and enemy troops, before handling them over to the military.

The letter S in the name stands for ‘self-propelled’, which means that the mobile Khrizantema launcher is mounted on Russia’s BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle chassis.

The Khrizantema-S has two targeting channels: an optical channel with laser guidance and an electronic channel. The latter represents the biggest innovation introduced into the system: as the radar operates in the millimetre range (100–150 GHz), it does not miss targets. The relevant data is processed and transmitted to the system control panel, so that the operator only has to lock the detected targets by marking them on the LCD display and press the launch button – the electronics will do the rest.

Thanks to its two targeting channels, the Khrizantema- S can detect and shell two targets at once with a four-second interval between shots. Moreover, the system is capable of launching missiles while moving across land or water. Leonid Sizov, head of the design department at the Kolomna bureau, says that an artillery battery of three Khrizantema-S fighting vehicles has enough combat power to repel an attack of a 14-strong tank squadron. And if the system used missiles with blast or thermobaric warheads, it could also be effective against infantry.