9K121 Wichr

9K121 Wichr
9K121 Wichr on a Kamow Ka-50
General Information
Type	Anti-tank guided missile
Local name	9K121 Wichr
NATO designation	AT-16 Scallion
Country of origin	Soviet Union / Russia
Manufacturer	Design office for device construction
development	1986
Technical specifications
length	2.87 m
diameter	130 mm
Combat weight	47 kg
span	380 mm
drive	Solid rocket engine
speed	600 m / s ( Mach 1.8)
Range	10 km
Furnishing
Target location	SACLOS , via laser
Warhead	8.6 kg tandem shaped load
Detonator	Impact fuse
Weapon platforms	Kamow Ka-50 , Kamow Ka-52 , Sukhoi Su-39
Lists on the subject

The 9K121 Wichr ( Russian 9К121 Вихрь , Cyclone) is an air-ground - anti-tank missile manufactured in Russia. The guided weapon bears the designation 9M127 . The NATO code name is AT-16 Scallion .

development

The anti-tank guided missile system 9K121 Wichr was designed in the former Soviet Union as a counterpart to the American AGM-114 Hellfire . Development work in the KBP design office began in 1986. The first copies were ready for delivery in 1993. Due to the tight financial situation of the Russian armed forces, only a small number could be procured for test purposes. Series production started in 2014 and the first copies were delivered to the Russian armed forces in 2015.

Deployment platforms

The operational platforms for the 9M127 are the Kamow Ka-50 and Ka-52 attack helicopters and the Su-39 ground attack aircraft .

variants

• 9K121 Wichr: original version; ready for development in 1997.
  • with guided weapon 9M127 / 9A4172 Wicher . Range 8 km, with monoblock shaped charge . Armor penetration 900 mm RHA .
• 9K121M Wichr-M: Main production version from 2012.
  • with guided weapon 9M127K / 9A4172K Wichr-1 . Range 10 km, with tandem shaped charge . Armor penetration up to 1,200 mm RHA.

technology

The guided weapon is transported in a glass fiber reinforced plastic tube and fired from it. The guided missile uses a solid rocket propulsion system from Soyuz NPO. At the start, a small ejection charge pushes the missile out of the launch tube. Immediately after leaving the tube, the wings unfold and the rocket motor ignites. In contrast to the AGM-114 Hellfire, the 9M127 is a beam rider . The laser seeker is located by the weapon at the rear of the missile, the missile tries to stay within the laser beam during the flight. The rocket nozzles are on the left and right of the missile. A tail unit at the stern causes it to spin after takeoff - this is necessary for steering as it only has one control surface. There is a proximity fuse at the tip of the missile. The warhead consists of a tandem hollow charge , the main hollow charge being provided with a fragmentation jacket to increase its effectiveness against soft and semi-hard targets. This particular solution has a number of advantages and disadvantages:

• since the laser finder is aimed at the source, it can be cheaper
• more immune to interference, as more laser energy is sent to the rocket
• inexpensive due to the use of only one control surface
• Can also be used as an air-to-air guided weapon against slow-flying aircraft and helicopters thanks to the proximity fuse
• Due to the beam rider principle, the launch platform must be precisely aligned with the target; the launch containers can therefore be swiveled vertically
• Buddy lasing is not possible
• only the direct approach to a target can be selected, top attack is not possible
• the weapon spirals strongly at the beginning because the twist is not yet so pronounced. This increases the minimum distance to the target.

Individual evidence

1. ^ AW Hull, DR Markov, SJ Zaloga : Soviet / Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices 1945 to Present. Darlington Productions, 1999, ISBN 1-892848-01-5 .
2. ↑ Michał Fiszer: Russia's Tank Stoppers, Part 1 & 2. Journal of Electronic Defense (JED), Nov 2004.
3. ↑ militaryrussia.ru , accessed: March 14, 2014 (Russian)
4. ↑ The AT-16 anti-tank guided missile system. DTIG - Defense Threat Informations Group, January 1997

Web links

Commons : 9K121 Wichr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description on www.airwar.ru (Russian)