ATGM "Kornet" in the Special Operation

Training launch of the rocket "Kornet"

In the course of the current Special Military Operation, Russian units are making the most active use of Kornet anti-tank missile systems. Portable anti-tank systems or on different platforms are used to engage a wide range of targets over the entire range of operating ranges. The successful application of such weapons contribute to its high characteristics and a decent level of preparation of calculations.

Armament at the front

ATGM "Kornet" in different versions have been used from the very beginning of the Special Operation. Back at the end of February, the first photo and video materials appeared showing such complexes and their crews on the march and in firing positions. The use of "Cornets" for real targets was subsequently demonstrated constantly and regularly.

The available materials confirm the broad possibilities for the combat use of modern domestic anti-tank systems. So, "Cornets" are used with a variety of platforms. They are transferred by calculation forces or transported by any available transport. In addition, in the spring we tested aviation modification of the complex - the carrier of the rocket was the heavy UAV "Pacer".

Transportation of anti-tank systems in the back of a pickup truck, Donbass, August 2022

The presence of several missiles with different combat equipment allows you to attack and hit different targets. The main goal for the "Cornet" are Tanks and other enemy armored vehicles. With the help of guided missiles, vehicles are destroyed, incl. armed, and other moving targets. Also, "Cornet" proved to be a convenient and effective means for hitting fixed targets - firing points, command posts, etc.

An interesting video showing a typical episode of the use of the Kornet ATGM was published by the Ministry of Defense at the end of August. Its main characters, the calculation of the complex, move in a pickup truck; ATGM in a portable version is installed in the body. Arriving at the intended position, the missilemen set up a container with ammunition, find the target and launch. For another launch, the complex was placed on the ground. In both cases, after the launch, the crew quickly decreases from the position.

The exact consumption of Kornet missiles during the Special Operation is, for obvious reasons, unknown. However, it can be assumed that this ATGM is one of the most common and popular types of weapons. It is actively used in all sectors of the front and ensures the destruction of various targets. Accordingly, there is a high consumption of ammunition - and it fully justifies itself.

Launch preparation

It is obvious that the widespread use of "Cornets" will continue until the end of the operation. This weapon has proven itself well in solving various fire missions, and no one will refuse it. At the same time, the accumulated stocks and ongoing production will ensure mass application.

modern family

The future ATGM 9K135 "Kornet" with a guided missile 9M133 has been developed since the late eighties by the Tula Instrument Design Bureau. Despite all the difficulties of the following years, by the end of the nineties it was possible to complete the development, and the complex entered service. In addition, the KBP proposed several options for the implementation of such an anti-tank system and laid the foundation for its further development.

During the XNUMXs, the KBP was engaged in the creation of a modernized complex "Kornet-D" ("Kornet-EM" for export). In order to improve the basic characteristics, new missiles were developed for it. In addition, the anti-tank systems were again adapted for installation on different carriers. A number of variants of the complex in the tenth years entered service with the Russian army. The development of other modifications is not excluded.

The development of the project continues. So, as part of the Tulyak development work, a new version of the 9M113 rocket was created. It differs from existing products by the presence of an infrared homing head. Thanks to this, for the first time in the Kornet project, the full autonomy of the rocket after launch is realized.

According to various sources, now our army has several thousand Kornet anti-tank systems of different versions at its disposal. First of all, these are portable complexes on a tripod. Such launchers can be transported by any vehicle. It also provides for their installation on armored cars, such as "Tiger" or "Lynx".

A self-propelled ATGM with two quad launchers is also being built on the basis of the Tiger. Similar devices are received by Raptor boats. The Kornet complex is used in several modern projects of combat modules and compartments. In a real operation, a complex for heavy UAVs has already been tested.

It should be noted that the complexes of the Kornet family are in demand on the international arms market. In large quantities, they were supplied to 15 foreign countries. Some of them transferred their complexes to other armed formations. In addition, it is known about foreign attempts to copy the Russian anti-tank systems. All this demonstrates the high interest from foreign countries and confirms the potential of Kornet.

Technical features

All versions of the Kornet, regardless of modification and execution, use guided missiles of the 9M133 line. To date, nine such products are known with different features, characteristics and functions. It is likely that in the future the family will again be replenished with new missiles.

Start of a rocket

All missiles for the "Cornet" have a similar design. They are built in a spindle-shaped body 1,2 m long and 152 mm in diameter with aerodynamic planes arranged according to the "duck" scheme. In the head and tail parts of the hull, certain devices are placed, in the center - a warhead and a solid-propellant engine with side nozzles. At the same time, the equipment of different missiles is different, due to which the difference in characteristics and capabilities is ensured.

The base missile of the 9M133 family has a range of up to 5 km. With the help of a tandem HEAT warhead, it penetrates at least 1000 mm of homogeneous armor. On its basis, 9M133F was created with a high-explosive warhead equivalent to a 152-mm artillery shell. Then they developed products 9M133-1 and 9M133F-1 with a range of 5,5 km and heavier warheads. In all cases, semi-automatic guidance was used with the flight along the laser beam.

The Kornet-D complex uses a new generation of missiles. Products 9M133M-2 and 9M133FM-2 are distinguished by an increased range of up to 8 km. It was also possible to reinforce the combat units again. An anti-tank missile penetrates up to 1300 mm of armor, and the FM-2 variant carries a thermobaric charge. There is a 9M133FM-3 rocket that delivers a high-explosive charge for 10 km.

Self-propelled version of the "Kornet" based on the armored car "Tiger", May 9, 2017

Launchers "Kornet" include a combined optical device with a thermal imaging channel, a laser rangefinder-target designator and automatic target tracking. In the case of the 9P163 portable launcher, all devices are placed in a single housing on a tripod. Fighting vehicles based on the "Tiger", in turn, use more complex units with remote control. Similarly, "Kornet" is mounted on modern combat modules for armored vehicles.

Confirmed by practice

Thus, the Kornet anti-tank missile system can be considered one of the most successful and successful domestic developments of recent decades. The complex has found its place in our army and is selling well on the international market. At the same time, it is constantly used in the framework of various exercises and operations - and confirms its high performance and overall potential.

Since its inception, the Kornet ATGM has been constantly developed and improved, and such processes continue to this day. It is likely that its development will continue in the future, and these processes will be significantly influenced by the experience of the current Special Operation. What changes will be made as a result of real combat use is not yet clear. But it is obvious that in its current form, "Kornet" corresponds to the tasks and is an effective means of combating a wide range of targets.

Comments

[vovochkarzhevsky]

Very good weapons. You could say jewelry.

[IVZ]

A magnificent Soviet-designed complex, but its modernization potential is not endless, and the question of developing a new generation of anti-tank systems - all-weather. "day-night", with the GOS ensuring the application of the "fire and forget" principle, with the possibility of an attack from above, is increasingly relevant because of the 60-70 tons of the combat mass of NATO tanks, most of it falls on very advanced armor.

[28st region]

The Kornet has a wide range of warheads, there are HEAT warheads, tandem warheads, high-explosive warheads, and even thermobaric warheads. Why hit tanks from above if it already breaks through a meter of armor and I can’t remember which NATO tanks have active armor. The principle of shooting forgot is implemented in this complex due to the automatic capture and tracking of the target. But this is for armored vehicles, but how many of our sworn friends of anti-tank systems have missiles with high-explosive warheads or thermobaric ones? It is quite possible that I do not know all the performance characteristics of Western anti-tank systems, but what I am sure of is that during the NWO the Kornet rocket with high-explosive warheads was fired much more than with cumulative warheads. They hit on fortified points, on the accumulation of manpower on snipers, on observers, and on everything that is possible. Is it possible to do this with a missile with a seeker? I highly doubt it.
Excellent complex. Masterpiece.

[IVZ]

Claimed armor resistance against cumulative BP for some Western tanks is up to 1650mm equivalent of steel armor without dynamic protection. Due to the relatively weak armor action of the cumulative jet, it is considered desirable to have an armor penetration margin of 200mm. Those. Warhead with a penetration of 1300mm. considered effective for armor with a thickness of 1100mm. In addition, remote sensing kits for armored vehicles have been developed and can be installed on armored vehicles if necessary. ATGMs, judging by the decoding of the abbreviations, are designed to destroy primarily BTs, and they must certainly solve this task, and everything else is a pleasant bonus that complements, but does not replace the basis.

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: 28st region

Why hit tanks from above if he already breaks through a meter of armor

"Cornets" and "cornet-like" anti-tank missiles have already been used in various "places" for a very long time ... but they have never brought enemy tank units to "zero"!

[28st region]

Quote: Nikolaevich I

"Cornets" and "cornet-like" anti-tank missiles have already been used in various "places" for a very long time ... but they have never brought enemy tank units to "zero"!

As in other things, javelins that strike from above and the like.

[svoroponov]

And you ask the Israelis. There is a video when, in my opinion, Hezbola completely destroyed a tank unit, consisting of Merkav Israelis, on a mountain road, with Kornets. It's just that such cases are diligently kept silent by the enemy.

[Zenn]

Cornet was created to fight, and Javelin to sell.
The Cornet is not so widely advertised, it is an honest Russian hard worker, judging by how willingly the Armed Forces of Ukraine throw American and other European complexes, but for some reason they rarely leave Cornet's great-grandfather - RPG-7, faith in the Javelins has evaporated.

[garri-lin]

Now they are throwing. But I'll risk it. The time for ATGMs has passed. On the basis of the Cornet, it is necessary to create, for example, a Universal Short-Range Rocket. Fully modular concept. Several engines. Several brains. Several warheads.
Here above they argued about the Shot and forget. Useful feature. Both for infantry and for use from an air platform. What's stopping you from caring? The dimensions of the rocket are quite allowable.
different flight profiles. Why not provide for the possibility of a different trajectory for different missiles that are as unified as possible with each other? Yes, the same vertical start will not be superfluous in some cases.
Bch. There are several. However, a tandem of a concrete-piercing leader and the main charge flying into the breakdown will not hurt either. Cumul penetrates well and behind the barrier is quite average. And with concrete-piercing and inside, the effect will be better.
And I do not propose to shove all this into one rocket or to assemble what is needed from spare parts on the battlefield.
Just make different from the most unified parts.
Flexibility will definitely increase.
Cornet is an excellent basis for starting work.

[IVZ]

Now they are throwing. But I'll risk it.

And why throw something? The man expressed his opinion. Has the right to. And yes, it's actually not wrong. Developers always strive to use the existing backlog, this reduction in cost and reduction in development time, including by reducing technical risks and when mastering a product by production, is useful, but unfortunately it does not always work out.

[T.A.V.]

He would also have a remote control panel, a la "Stugna", so that the operator would not endanger once again.

[Proctologist]

EXACTLY! Extremely simple and cheap to implement - literally, a penny - and just as effective! Many lives of fighters will be able to save.

Immediately I advise you to add a USB connector for flash drives for video. Strongly add to export sales with such and such advertising!

[T.A.V.]

Well, if money is more important than the life of a trained fighter, then I'm sorry. a passage on a flash drive and a connector, well, such a thing ...


In Syria, a soldier of the MTR Maxim Pletnev died heroically.
On January 31, 2019, during the performance of a combat mission in Syria, the region of the northern province of Idlib, a fighter from one of the Special Operations Forces of Russia, Sergeant Maxim Pletnev, was killed. On February 4, he was buried in his small Motherland, in the city of Tikhoretsk, Krasnodar Territory.
Maxim Pletnev fired a guided missile (ATGM) at an enemy rocket launcher, which fired at him in response. Maxim could have survived if he left his position, especially since he saw a rocket flying at him. But he decided to bring the ATGM to the target and completed this task, depriving the enemy of expensive equipment.
Unfortunately, Maxim did not have enough time to hide from a return shot.

[Proctologist]

It is precisely in your example that it is clear that a coil of wire and a cheap camera with a display (Stugna) would have saved Maxim's life. Extremely simple and extremely effective.

As for the "flash drive", I also think without irony that the video recordings of launches could serve as a subject for analysis and training and would also save lives, in the end. In addition to the propaganda effect (although he is also a weapon).

[KVIRTU]

Why is no one talking about TV guidance.
The flyers pushed through LMUR for themselves, product 305, they are satisfied. They launched, you can leave the course, the operator guides with the help of a camera in the head, is it really so difficult to repeat on the ATGM?

[garri-lin]

It's a shame that the remote control was the oldest Baby.

[Proctologist]

well, now a penny camera and a display have been added.

[IVZ]

It seems to me that the future of medium and heavy ATGMs is hypersonic missiles with a kinetic warhead and a simplified "laser trail" guidance system or the same seeker. Flight time at a distance of 4-4,5 km. about 2,5-3 seconds. And for a long range, two-stage missiles should be used according to the "Club" anti-ship missile principle; a unified high-speed missile with a warhead should be delivered to the target launch range by a carrier - a loitering UAV or a long-range missile as the first stage with programmatically corrected inertial control system or telecontrol. Moreover, anything can serve as a warhead instead of an ATGM for such a product.

[Order]

Of course, it’s not so visible to me from the couch, but reading the news and reports from the battlefields I came to this conclusion.
The cornet needs remote control, as is implemented on the Belarusian ATGM Shershen, Ukrainian ATGM Stugna.
Implement laser guidance, not wires, as the network describes cases of wire breaks and missile control failures.
Due to the fact that the calculation is located next to the launcher, it is endangered, especially if the defense of the occupied area is ahead, it can be easily detected in thermal imaging surveillance devices, from the air (quadcopters) and the launcher itself is more difficult to disguise.
The use of remote control will also allow you to place the launcher on armored vehicles and fire from the fighting compartment.
It's a pity that this simple truth does not reach M / O.
Cornet, like Magpie, nicknamed by the soldiers of the Red Army, goodbye homeland, if after a shot they find a calculation, then he cannot avoid death or injury, and with modern thermal imaging surveillance devices in armored vehicles, the calculation may not even have time to launch an ATGM.
Of course, the calculation is in danger when reloading, even if there is a remote control, but who will reload the ATGM if the position starts shelling?
Everyone, throw rotten tomatoes at me.

[IVZ]

The "Kornet" has laser beam guidance, it is generally developed on the basis of a tank ATGM. Tomatoes will soon reach the condition. Get ready.

[moreman78]

And how are things with the Metis complex? It seems that they were going to modernize it, it is both lighter than the Cornet and cheaper. He is not visible in the reports ...

[svoroponov]

They often write, struck from the ATGM,, there are Cornet and Metis and so on.

[Mustached Kok]

The article is interesting. I would note that once upon a time I considered the 3rd generation anti-tank systems to be the necessary means on the modern battlefield. But the SVO showed that the 3rd generation ATGM, in fact, the same second-generation missiles, simply with a different type of guidance.

As the same experience of the SVO showed, the time to capture the target + the flight time of the missile to the target is noticeably longer than the time of guidance and missile flight for the 2nd generation ATGM.

Over time, the situation will change a little. Autumn has come and then winter, the temperature contrast of the working tank and the environment will increase and NLAW with Javelin will start to capture the target faster. But they will not fundamentally change the time interval from detection to the moment it hits the target. Since pointing by reading the thermal silhouette in any case takes time. The time that the operator is defenseless in case of detection and the rocket has not even taken off from the container yet. Yes, and the current guidance heads require a smooth change of angle during flight so as not to "lose" the target during the flight. And therefore the speed of the missiles themselves is low.

I think ATGM with implemented fiber control as in the second generation will be more promising. But with the ability to control the complex through a remote control at a safer distance. Moreover, the remote control must be able to connect both wired and wireless. The rocket itself must be supersonic or at least transonic.

[Dost]

Cornet flies all its way in a maximum of 30 seconds. This is not a Javelin. Do not think about it, until it arrives.

[Order]

Quote: IVZ

The "Kornet" has laser beam guidance, it is generally developed on the basis of a tank ATGM. Tomatoes will soon reach the condition. Get ready.

Yes, this is wrong. Thanks for the correction.
Confused with another complex.

[Dost]

It would not hurt him, like Stugna, to add a remote control.

[Barberry25]

ATGM Cornet is a good thing, but needs improvement:
1) the necessary portable infantry version of the one that is being installed now Cornet-Tiger, since there is a camera there and the picture is displayed on the screen + electric guidance drives, i.e. put a battery and 10 meters of cable and you can launch missiles from a shelter without risking the life of the crew, the maximum that can be added to this version is a wide-view camera to search for targets.
2) many write about "fire and forget" missiles. The current situation has shown that such missiles are very expensive and they need a LOT of them, so it is best to equip the missile with optics and a receiving-transmitting module that will transmit data back to the launcher on the screen, and the fighter when firing at long distances, i.e. at 3,5+ km it will be able to hit not only a "point" in the form of an enemy tank, but also target certain areas of armored vehicles and fully hit targets at a distance of up to 8-10 km, in the future it is possible to place thermal imaging or night optics on a rocket

[Nikolaevich I]

The development of the project continues. So, as part of the Tulyak development work, a new version of the 9M113 rocket was created. It differs from existing products by the presence of an infrared homing head. Actually ... 9M113 is a "Competition"! And the IK.GSN "Cornet" acquired either in the 90s of the last century, or in the "zero" of this ...! So, it turns out, the new is the well-forgotten "old"! In my opinion, chago in the soup ... "Cornet" is not enough! 1. These are birds with SPS (like TOW-2B ...) and 2. a variant with a semi-active laser seeker based on the Kornet (let it be, for example, the Clarinet!) ...

[Yuriy77]

A good complex for a long time "asking" a remote control with a thermal imaging channel!
As for the rocket itself, the main charge can be equipped with a tantalum funnel lining to increase penetration (unless, of course, this has already been done in the latest modifications).