The 9A317M TELAR is the autonomous tracked firing vehicle for Russia's 9K317M Buk-M3 medium-range surface-to-air missile system. Open technical sources describe it as a six-canister, radar-equipped self-propelled firing unit able to receive target designation, track targets, prepare missile flight tasks, illuminate targets, and launch 9M317M-family missiles; Ukraine-war reporting and loss documentation identify Russian 9A317M TELARs and Buk-M3 launchers as battlefield air-defense targets.
Russian 9A317M TELARs and 9K317M Buk-M3 launchers are documented in Ukraine-war reporting and loss tracking: Euromaidan Press cited footage of a Russian Buk-M3 force package in Kursk Oblast that included a 9A317M TELAR, Ukrainska Pravda reported a Ukrainian intelligence strike on a Russian 9K317M Buk-M3 in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and WarSpotting lists multiple Russian 9A317M TELAR losses.
Role details| Variant | Configuration | Designation notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9A317ME TELAR | Export Viking self-propelled firing unit | Rosoboronexport's Viking export page describes the 9A317ME self-propelled firing unit, while Commons identifies the primary image as a 9A317ME TELAR at Army-2022. Sources: Viking - Rosoboronexport, File:9A317ME Buk-M3-Viking ARMY-2022.jpg |
 | Earlier Buk-M2 TELAR | The 9A317M succeeds the Buk-M2 generation 9A317 firing vehicle with a six-canister Buk-M3 launch arrangement and updated radar/fire-control functions. Sources: 9K317M Buk-M3 - Missilery.info, Buk-M3 Viking 9K317M - Army Recognition |
The 9A317M is documented with the Buk-M3 missile branch in sealed transport-launch containers.
| Launched item | Item type | Launch evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | 9M317 family missile record | Missilery.info identifies the 9M317M missile as part of Buk-M3 and describes it as a longer-range development of the 9M317 missile; the linked catalog record covers the broader 9M317 family context. Sources: 9K317M Buk-M3 - Missilery.info |
The 9A317M is the radar-equipped firing vehicle inside the Buk-M3 battery, not the entire 9K317M system. That distinction matters because battlefield reports may name a Buk-M3 system, a launcher, or a specific TELAR depending on the evidence visible in the imagery.
Missilery.info describes the 9A317M autonomous self-propelled firing unit with a multichannel illumination and guidance station, digital computer, communications, launch automation, and six transport-launch containers for 9M317M missiles.
Rosoboronexport uses 9A317ME for the Viking export self-propelled firing unit and describes it as able to engage up to six targets from its own launcher and an attached 9A316ME launcher.
Army Recognition and Missilery.info distinguish the six-missile TELAR from the 9A316M/ME launcher, which carries twelve missiles but receives launch data from a firing unit or illumination radar.
Sources: 9K317M Buk-M3 - Missilery.info; Viking - Rosoboronexport; Buk-M3 Viking 9K317M - Army Recognition.
Missilery.info says Buk-M3 development under chief designer E. A. Pigin began in 2007 at the Tikhomirov institute.
Sources: 9K317M Buk-M3 - Missilery.info
Missilery.info places Buk-M3 adoption in 2016 and says the first Buk-M3 division was supplied to Russian armed forces in October 2016.
Sources: 9K317M Buk-M3 - Missilery.info
MDAA's Army Recognition summary reported Almaz-Antey's Army-2018 presentation of the Buk-M3 Viking and described a battery with two 9A317M TELARs and one 9A316M TEL.
Sources: Almaz-Antey Presents Buk-M3 Viking - MDAA
Euromaidan Press cited Militarnyi's review of strike footage showing a Russian Buk-M3 package in Kursk Oblast with a 9A316M TEL and a 9A317M TELAR.
Sources: Ukraine Degrades Russian Air Defense - Euromaidan Press
Ukrainska Pravda reported that Ukrainian Defence Intelligence struck a Russian 9K317M Buk-M3 system near Oleksandrivka in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Sources: Russian Buk-M3 Destroyed in Zaporizhzhia - Ukrainska Pravda
