MBDA's Akeron MBT 120 non-line-of-sight missile has been designed for compatibility with 120mm smoothbore MBT guns. (Photo: MBDA)
Barrelling ahead – is there a renaissance for tank-launched guided projectiles?
The recent disclosure that MBDA was working on the Akeron MBT 120 NLOS (non-line-of-sight) missile for main battle tanks (MBTs) armed with a 120mm smoothbore gun, such as the KNDS-Deutschland Leopard 2 or RBSL Challenger 3, has once again highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of gun-launched guided projectiles (GLGPs).
Traditionally, MBTs can only engage with anything that is in direct line of sight. The ability to strike battlefield targets, including hostile MBTs, beyond that line of sight is a significant additional capability. This would enable your tank to start to neutralise threat vehicles before direct MBT/MBT engagements take place... Continues below
This analysis article originally appeared in November's Decisive Edge Land Warfare Newsletter.
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There are however often disadvantages due to terrain conditions so compromises must be made. In South Africa’s Border War for example, many engagements were at short ranges, well under 100m in some cases. Wire-guided missiles of the time were of little use, so the South African Army deployed Denel Dynamics’ laser-guided ZT-3 Swift launched from its dedicated Ratel 6x6 tank destroyers.
The Swift had a maximum range of up to 5,000m and was fitted with a single high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead; later models had a tandem warhead to defeat targets fitted with explosive-reactive armour (ERA).
The main drawback of laser-guided GLGPs here is that the gunner has to keep their sight locked on target until missile impact, which takes time, especially at longer engagement ranges.
In addition, an increasing number of platforms, especially MBTs and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), are fitted with defensive aids which can not only detect incoming laser-guided munitions of all types, but also rangefinders and designators. This alert allows the targeted platform time to either engage the threat itself or move out of sight and deploy countermeasures such as tube-launched grenades.
Today, the largest user of tanks armed with GLGPs is Russia. Its first such weapon was the KBP Instrument Design Bureau 9K112 Kobra system using a radio-guided missile. This system was installed in platforms including some versions of the T-64 and T-80 MBT, with a maximum stated range of up to 5,000m and a single HEAT warhead. It is understood that production of these missiles was completed many years ago and the GLGP was never exported.
Each round consists of two parts, the “pusher” which propels the projectile out of the barrel and the actual missile. To engage the target, all the operator had to do was keep their sight locked onto it. The same principles apply to the follow-on Russian laser-guided systems, KBP’s 9K119 Refleks and 9K120 Svir, both of which use the same missile, with the former installed in T-72B and T-72S MBTs.
The prime contractor quotes a maximum range of 5,000m again with a time to this distance of 17.6 seconds. It is worth noting that a well-trained Western tank gun crew could probably get three conventional rounds off in a similar timescale.
The more recent Russian T-90 MBT fires the similar Invar-M missile with a tandem HEAT warhead; this is also produced in India by Bharat Dynamics for locally manufactured T-90s.
The T-14 Armata MBT, now in low-rate production, is fitted with a remote turret armed with a 125mm 2A82A smoothbore gun capable of firing Invar-M, but there have also been statements that in the longer term the tank will get a 152mm 2A83 gun and a new generation of GLGP with enhanced capabilities.
For Russian’s T-62 tanks armed with a 115mm 2A20 gun, KBP developed the 9K116-1 Sheksna system using the 9M117M GLGP, this being configured as a single complete round.
The T-62 was originally phased out of service with the Russian Army from 2013 onwards but following heavy losses of more recent Russian models in the ongoing Ukraine conflict, some examples have been brought back into frontline use. Unless new missiles have been manufactured it is probable that they only have the capability for fire conventional natures of ammunition.
The Russian BMP-3 IFV also has a GLGP capability. Its 100mm 2A70 gun supports KBP’s 9K116 Basnya system which launches the 9M117M missile, and some Russian T-55s were upgraded with a similar capability, as were MT-12 towed antitank guns using the Kaset missile.
Ukraine was also a key manufacturing centre for armoured vehicles in the former Soviet Union and produced large numbers of MBTs and other types. Following independence the Luch design bureau developed a complete family of GLGPs which covered 125mm, 120mm, 115mm, 105mm, 100mm and 90mm calibres.
The 100mm Stugna, for example, is a complete round for use with modified T-55 MBTs or the T-12 antitank gun, with a maximum range of up to 5,000m. Its tandem HEAT charge is said to be capable of penetrating up to 550mm of ERA protection. The 90mm single-piece round was designed to be fired from Western weapons such as a John Cockerill Defense two-person turret.
Indeed, some variants were developed specifically for export including the 125mm and 105mm examples, with the latter being demonstrated fired from a John Cockerill Defense turret. There was co-operative marketing with the Belgian company at one point.
China meanwhile has also fielded MBTs (Type 99) armed with 125mm smoothbore guns which can fire the China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) GP7 GLGP. This is similar to Russian designs and again consists of two parts, projectile and pusher. It is laser-guided with the manufacturer quoting a total weight of 19kg and a maximum range of up to 5,000m.
The People’s Liberation Army also deploys many vehicles, tracked and wheeled, fitted with turrets armed with a NATO-standard 105mm rifled gun and for this NORINCO markets the GP2 GLGP. This uses a conventional brass cartridge case and has a stated maximum range of up to 5,000m and maximum flight speed of up to 360m/s.
KNDS: The future of European land systems is here
Iran is also marketing a 125mm gun-launched system called the Tondar for use with T-72 MBTs and this is stated to have a maximum range of up to 4,000m, SACLOS guidance and a tandem HEAT warhead.
Until recently, Western efforts were few and far between. Many years ago, France designed the 142mm ACRA guided projectile, which was briefly tested but ultimately cancelled. Israel Aerospace Industries developed 105mm and 120mm versions of the LAHAT guided missile with latter demonstrated being launched from German Leopard 2, Indian Arjun and Israeli Merkava MBTs. This had a quoted maximum range of up to 8,000m but never entered quantity production.
In the US, the 152mm MGM-51 Shillelagh GLGP was produced in the 1960s and 1970s but was never exported and has been long since phased out. A successor of sorts, the 120mm Mid-Range Munition (MRM), was then competed for by Raytheon and ATK (today Northrop Grumman) in the early 2000s. The latter company was declared the winner, but the programme was cancelled amid the wider termination of the Future Combat Systems effort.
In more recent news, Turkish Roketsan is developing the Tanok 120mm “Laser Guided Tank Cannon Munition.” This is presumably intended to equip the Turkish Land Forces Command’s incoming fleet of Altay MBTs, which have a 120mm smoothbore manually loaded main armament.
Few details of Tanok have been released. It is known to be soft-launched, laser-guided to a maximum range of over 6,000m, fitted with a tandem HEAT warhead, weighs 11kg and uses a nose-mounted semi-active seeker.
If this is a similar effort to Chinese and Russian GLGPs it will still have the major disadvantage that the gunner’s sight must stay on the target until missile impact.
India is also developing a GLGP called the SAMHO (Semi-Active Mission Homing) which was originally designed for the Arjun MBT armed with a rifled 120mm gun. Recent sources indicate that it could be a follow-on to the locally manufactured Russian Invar-M.
Maximum range of the 120mm version is stated to be 5,000m, with a semi-active laser seeker and tandem HEAT warhead; there are two modes of operation, direct attack and top attack.
The recently revealed MBDA Akeron MBT 120 meanwhile has been designed for non-LOS battlefield engagements and is meant to allow a tank crew to concentrate on engaging another target or manoeuvre to another position rather than waiting for the missile to hit.
In a statement the company added: “This is an early concept, but one that MBDA intends to develop rapidly via an accelerated delivery programme.”
It can be launched from all standard NATO 120mm L/44 and L/55 smoothbore guns with MBDA quoting an overall length of one metre, maximum range of up to 5,000m from the launch platform and a launch weight of 20kg. It takes up no more room in the turret than a conventional 120mm round and the boost rocket motor is stated to have a low-smoke propellant.
The nose mounted passive electro-optical/infrared seeker is claimed to be able to defeat laser-activated defensive aids and as it is of the top attack type hits the most vulnerable part of the target platform.
According to MBDA it is ITAR-free and leverages commercial-off-the-shelf components to allow for accelerated development.
Clearly there is now at least some additional interest in GLGPs as these offer existing platforms significant advantages when facing greater numbers of threat forces. MBDA’s use of a different set of guidance technologies to previous weapons of this type may swing the balance in favour of procurement and it will be interesting to see what prospective customers emerge as few Western armies have any recent experience of using GLGPs.
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