"Whirlwind" (rocket). Anti-tank missile system

"Vortex" - a missile from the Russian anti-tank missile system (ATGM) 9K121 "Whirlwind" (according to the NATO classification - AT-16 Scallion), which has laser guidance. It is launched from ships, as well as from helicopters Ka-50, Ka-52 and Su-25 attack aircraft. For the first time it was shown in 1992 at the air show in Farnborough.

History of development

The Vikhr complex was developed in the former Soviet Union as an analogue of the American ATMC AGM-114 Hellfire. The work began in 1980 and was carried out by Tula designers from the KBP under the leadership of A. G. Shipunov. The first copies were delivered to the troops in 1985. What further fate did the Vortex rocket have? Tests of the complex on V-80 helicopters and Su-25T attack aircraft, conducted in 1986, confirmed its high efficiency. Later the complex underwent modernization, which ended in 1990. However, because of the tense financial situation, only a small number of finished products for testing purposes were purchased for Russian troops. Serial production began in 2014, and the first complexes were delivered to the Russian Armed Forces at the end of 2015 to equip the Ka-52 helicopters.

Options ATGM

Two variants of this anti-tank complex are known:

• 9K121 "Whirlwind" - an early version, the development of which was fully completed in 1997. What kind of ammunition was this "Whirlwind" complex equipped with? The 9M127 missile with a range of up to 8 km was part of it. Her warranty armor penetration was 900 mm.
• 9K121 Vortex-M is a serial modified version. It includes a rocket "Vortex-1" (standard designation - 9M127-1) with a range of up to 10 km, equipped with a tandem charge penetrating armor up to 1200 mm.

Basics affecting the ability of a rocket

What are the peculiarities of the PTRK "Vortex"? The missile of the complex is designed to destroy vital ground targets, including armored ones, equipped with main or additional explosive-reactive armor (dynamic defense). Practically all anti-tank munitions work on the basis of cumulative action, i.e. by piercing armor with a jet of hot metal. Explosive-reactive armor can be pierced only by several hits in the same place. This principle is implemented in tandem munitions, such as the Vikhr-1 rocket, in which there are two shaped charges that are triggered in quick succession. Without tandem charges to get into the same place on the armor is almost impossible.

Composition of ATGM "Vortex"

The "Vikhr-1" rocket is a combat part of the anti-tank complex "Vikhr-M", which also includes the following components:

• Launcher for aircraft (helicopters, aircraft) type APU-6 or APU-8;
• Automatic system of sight and sighting of the I-251 Shkval-M type.

The automatic scoring system "Shkval-M" developed by the Krasnogorsk plant "Zenith" is equipped with television and thermal infrared aiming channels, a laser beam channel for controlling the rocket, a laser rangefinder, an automatic tracking unit, a digital computer and a missile stabilization system in flight in two planes . The I-251 system provides detection of targets and identification of them during day and night, automatic tracking of targets and guidance of missiles on them, and also provides accurate information for artillery and rocket fire.

Aiming technology

If the coordinates of the target are preliminarily entered in the on-board digital computer complex (BCWC) of the helicopter (aircraft), in the memory of which the map of the flight area is to be stored, then the Shkval-M system automatically switches on when approaching the target for a distance of 12-15 km. If the coordinates of the target are known only roughly, the system of aiming the Vikhr-M complex includes a pilot. It starts scanning the terrain on a television (or thermal) channel, displaying its results on a television screen in the cockpit.

After the appearance of the target on the television screen, the pilot turns on the maximum magnification mode, identifies the target and points the target grid on its image. After that, the system "Shkval-M" is translated by the pilot into the auto-tracking of the identified goal. In this mode, the pilot must hold the helicopter in such a position with respect to the target that it is within the limits of the azimuth angle (up to ± 35 °) and the elevation angle (from + 5 ° to -80 °) permissible for the tracking equipment. When the permitted range of fire is reached, the anti-tank rocket "Vortex" is automatically launched. For one purpose, two rockets can be fired simultaneously or half a minute to fire up to 4 targets.

Vortex rocket: characteristics

The missile is designed to engage armored ground targets, including those equipped with main or additional explosive-reactive armor, at a distance of up to 8 km while firing from a helicopter and up to 10 km from an airplane during the day (up to 5 km at night) Air targets subject to cover by air defense means. It is equipped with both contact and non-contact fuses. The latter allows to hit air targets when approaching them at a distance of up to 5 m.

The flight speed of the rocket is supersonic and reaches 610 m / s, so the distance in 4 km it overcomes in 9 seconds. At the same AGM-114K Hellfire ATGM to cover this distance requires 15 seconds, since it flies at a subsonic speed.

At an angle of encounter with an obstacle in a 90 ° rocket, a homogeneous steel armor 1000 mm thick is guaranteed to break through.

The design of the rocket

The missile's combat charge is made in a tandem pattern and is spaced along its length. In front there is a leading cumulative charge, behind which there is a drive of four aerodynamic rudders, able to move out of the niches in the direction of the back relative to the progress of the rocket. Next is the second combined warhead, which has both cumulative and high-explosive fragmentation.

Behind the warhead there is fuel for the propulsion engine and actually the solid propellant engine with two nozzles directed at an angle to the axis of the rocket. Here, in the tail section of the rocket, is an instrument container with control system equipment, as well as a laser light receiver.

In the rear part of the hull there is an aerodynamic feathering of the rocket in the form of four pentagonally curved wings (viewed from the nose of the rocket), which, before being launched (when inside the transport-launch container (TPK)), adjoin the hull, and then open with the help of Special mechanism.

The presence of controllable rudders-wings in the front part, as well as uncontrollable in the rear, allows attributing the aerodynamic scheme of the missile to the "duck" type.

Operation of rocket mechanisms during start-up and flight

It is transported in a fiberglass-reinforced plastic TPK, from which it starts under the action of a powder pressure accumulator. At the start, there is a small release of burnt gases from the rear end of the TPK. Immediately after leaving the launch container, the wings are extended and the engine of the rocket is launched. The laser sight is located on the stern of the rocket, which tends to stay in the laser beam during the flight.

Guidance on the laser beam on the target is a guarantee of high-precision shooting, which does not decrease with increasing range of the target. At the same time, the radiation power of the laser sight is so low that it turns out to be an order of magnitude smaller than the threshold trigger power, which is possessed by foreign systems of signaling about laser irradiation. This ensures the ultimate concealment of the use of weapons. The "Vortex" rocket is capable of destroying the mobile small-sized target of the "tank" class with a probability of 80%.