The 9M123 Khrizantema (russian: "Хризантема"; en,

Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

AT-15 Springer) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

(ATGM). Khrizantema was designed to deal with current and future generations of

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s and can also be used to engage slow and low flying aerial targets like

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. The 9M123 missile, and its associated guidance system, forms the 9K123 missile system.

Development

The Khrizantema anti-tank missile was unveiled in July 1996 by the Konstruktorskoye Byuro Mashynostroyenia (

KB Mashinostroyeniya KB Mashinostroyeniya or KBM for short (russian: КБ Машиностроения, КБМ, , Machine-Building Design Bureau) is a state defence enterprise, scientific and design R&D centre specialised in missile systems located in Kolomna, Moscow ...

– KBM) Engineering Design Bureau. The missile began development in the 1980s and was designed as an all weather, multi-purpose missile system that could defeat current and future armoured units equipped with advanced armour protection, such as

explosive reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic ener ...

(ERA). Khrizantema was envisaged as a replacement for a variety of different types of anti-tank missiles that remained in service with the Russian military, such as the

9K114 Shturm 9K114 ''Shturm''
- Weaponsystems.net (russian: 9К114 «Штурм» - "Assault" ...

and the

9M120 Ataka-V The 9M120 ''Ataka'' (russian: Атака; ''Attack'') is an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) originating from the Soviet Union. The NATO reporting name of the 9M120 missile is the AT-9 ''Spiral-2''. It is the next major generation in the 9K114 Sh ...

. The system entered service with the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

in 2005.

Description

The 9M123 missile is supersonic, flying at an average speed of or Mach 1.2 and has a range of between 400 and 6,000 meters. Propulsion is achieved via one solid fuel

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

motor with two exhausts on either side of the missile. The offset exhausts spin the missile during flight. Guidance control is provided by two pop-out control surfaces at the rear of the missile. Four added surfaces, just in front of the controls, help stabilize the missile in flight. The Khrizantema is unique among Russian anti-tank guided missiles as, depending on the variant of the missile, it can be guided by either

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

. The radar unit uses the

millimeter wave Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band and the ...

band and the system automatically tracks the target and guides the missile in the radar beam; this form of guidance is line of sight

beam riding Beam-riding, also known as Line-Of-Sight Beam Riding (LOSBR) or beam guidance, is a technique of directing a missile to its target by means of radar or a laser beam. The name refers to the way the missile flies down the guidance beam, which is ai ...

(LOSBR) that is

automatic command to line of sight Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through wire-guided missile, a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to ste ...

(ACLOS). When guided using a laser, a continuous laser beam is generated towards the target and a sensor in the rear section enables the missile to ride the laser beam to the target; this form of guidance is LOSBR that is

semi-automatic command to line of sight Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator has to continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or th ...

(SACLOS). This dual guidance system allows two missiles to be fired at two separate targets at once, with one missile guided by laser and the other by radar. Each missile carries a

tandem-charge A tandem-charge or dual-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation, assisting it to penetrate either reactive armour on an armoured vehicle or strong structures. Anti-tank Tandem charges are ...

high-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) warhead with a reported penetration of 1100–1250 mm

rolled homogeneous armour Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World ...

(RHA) behind ERA. Alternatively, a thermobaric warhead can be carried to engage soft-skinned targets, fortifications and manpower. Khrizantema 1

It is currently launched from the 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often wi ...

, Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopter, and most likely in the near future from the Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter. The 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S is based on the

BMP-3 The BMP-3 is a Soviet and Russian infantry fighting vehicle, successor to the BMP-1 and BMP-2. The abbreviation BMP stands for ''boevaya mashina pehoty'' (, literally "infantry combat vehicle"). Production history The design of the BMP-3 ('' O ...

chassis. The 9P157-2 carries two 9M123 missiles on launch rails, which are extended from a stowed position, the radar is also stowed during transit. Missiles are re-loaded automatically by the tank destroyer from an internal magazine with 15 rounds (missiles are stored and transported in sealed canisters) and can also accept munitions manually loaded from outside the vehicle. The manufacturer claims that three 9P157-2 tank destroyers are able to engage 14 attacking tanks and destroy at least sixty percent of the attacking force. The dual guidance system ensures protection against

electronic countermeasure An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

s and operation in all climatic conditions, day or night.

NBC protection Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present. CBRN defence consis ...

is provided for the crew (gunner and driver) of each 9P157-2 in addition to full armour protection equivalent to the standard BMP-3 chassis and entrenching equipment. Trials of a modernized version completed in 2016. On the upgraded version were installed an IIR/TV sight with a laser rangefinder, a modified radar control system, an increased secrecy laser beam-riding channel, an automated battle management equipment set and a more powerful warhead for the 9M123 missile among others.

Variants

*9M123 – Laser guidance with tandem HEAT warhead *9M123-2 – Radar guidance with tandem HEAT warhead *9M123F – Laser guidance with thermobaric warhead *9M123F-2 – Radar guidance with thermobaric warhead *9M123 Khrizantema-M – Upgraded version with extended range and combination of wave radar along with laser

guidance *9M123 Khrizantema-VM – Air to surface version for helicopters

Operators

Current operators

* * – 14 machines * – About 50 machines

References

External links

Konstruktorskoye Byuro Mashynostroyenia

YouTube Khrizantema-s
{{DEFAULTSORT:9m123 Khrizantema Post–Cold War weapons of Russia Anti-tank guided missiles of Russia KB Mashinostroyeniya products Modern thermobaric weapons of Russia Military equipment introduced in the 2000s