9К115-2 Metis-M
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| Metis-M | |
|---|---|
| Basic data | |
| Function | anti-tank missile |
| Manufacturer | KPB Instrument Design Bureau |
| Entered service | 1992 |
| General characteristics | |
| Engine | solid-fuel rocket |
| Launch mass | 13.8 kg |
| Length | 980 mm |
| Diameter | 130 mm |
| Speed | 200 m/s |
| Range | 0.08 - 1.5 km |
| Warhead | HEAT tandem warhead, Armor penetration behind ERA 850 mm. Thermobaric anti-personnel/anti-material warhead is also available. |
| Guidance | semiautomatic with commands transmitted over wire link |
The AT-13 Saxhorn is the NATO reporting name for the Russian 9К115-2 Metis-M anti-tank missile system.
The system is designed to augment the combat power of company-level motorized units.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Metis-M system has the positive qualities of a grenade launcher and ensures a sharp improvement of its basic performance characteristics - range and accuracy of fire and lethal effect on a target. The system is manportable and, in this sense, is very close to a soldier. Owing to small dimensions and light weight of its components, the system can be carried by its crew in compact packs over any distances on any terrain, including stream crossing. The three-man crew carries personal weapons and an ammunition load of five missiles. One crew member carries a pack with a missile-loaded launcher, which considerably reduces the time of fire preparation and allows the crew to engage targets on the move. In the event of sudden appearance of a target, the operator can fire from the shoulder with the launcher rested against a local object. Two other crew members carry packs with two missiles each.
The system is simple and easy to operate:
- it can be rapidly changed over from the traveling to the firing position and vice versa within 15 - 20 seconds;
- it has a firing rate of 3 - 4 rounds per minute;
- it can be fired from organized and deployed sites in the prone and standing foxhole positions as well as from various combat vehicles;
- it can be shipped by any type of transport and can be air-dropped.
The Metis-M system comprises:
- combat assets;
- maintenance facilities;
- training aids.
The combat assets of the Metis-M system include:
- 9M131 (9M131F) ATGM;
- 9P151 launcher;
- 1PBN86-VI thermal sight.
[edit] Guidance
The Metis-M ATGM system has a semiautomatic guidance system, with commands transmitted over the wire link. The guidance system is constructed so that the most sophisticated and costly components, such as a gyroscopic coordinator, electronic units and an onboard battery, are excluded from the missile.
The ATGM is kept in a launching transporting container and consists of a control section, a flight motor, a warhead, a wing section with a flare, and a launch motor with a wire link reel. The powerful tandem HEAT warhead of the 9M131 missile allows defeat of a wide array of targets, including main battle tanks equipped with add-on and built-in explosive reactive armor, lightly armored vehicles, fortifications and fieldworks (bunker and log emplacements, etc.). To expand the possibilities of system combat employment, the 9M131F ATGMs are fitted with a thermobaric warhead which has a high-explosive and an incendiary effect of a large caliber artillery projectile and is especially efficient in firing at urban buildings and structures and other engineer constructions.
The 9P151 launcher consists of an optical sight-tracker, an electronic unit and a tripod mount with elevating and traversing drives. The precision mechanical drives of the 9P151 launcher simplify the process of laying during combat actions and lower the requirements to the operator's qualification. The employment of the system at night and in adverse weather conditions is ensured by the 1PN86-VI thermal sight installed on the 9P151 launcher.
The system's ATGMs do not require maintenance during their operation and storage. To maintain the 9P151 launcher and the 1PN86-1 thermal sight, use is made of test equipment. The 9F640 field trainer is designed to train crews in basic technique of combat actions in the field. The 9F660-4 trainer is designed to train crews in basic technique of combat actions in a classroom.
[edit] Combat history
According to many accounts by Israeli military, weapons seized from Hezbollah and journalists accounts from lebanon the Metis-M was used successfully by Hezbollah fighters during the 2006 Lebanon war against Merkava tanks. Russia released a press statement disputing that it had been supplying modern anti-tank weapons to Hezbollah even though the original claim by the Israelis was that Russian weapons which were sold to Syria which in turn smuggled the weapons to Hezbollah.[1] Israel has sent a team of officials to Moscow to show the Russians the evidence of what they say can only be Syrian weapons transfers.[2] To date, Russia has yet to comment or act on the weapon proliferation.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Russia's Arms Catalog 2004
