The 9M117 Bastion is a Russian

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 fi ...

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 ...

anti-tank 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 ...

. It is used in a number of separate weapon systems, including the 9K116-1 Bastion missile system (AT-10 Stabber), 9K118 Sheksna (AT-12 Swinger),

T-12 antitank gun 2A19 or T-12 was a revolutionary Soviet 100-mm anti-tank gun. It was the first (anti-) tank gun to adopt a smoothbore barrel, and to introduce modern armor piercing shot, like the APFSDS. It uses long projectiles that are more powerful than it ...

and the 3UBK12 fired from the BMP-3. The 100 mm projectile entered service in 1981.Angelskiy, R. (2002), p. 111-115

Development

The

9K112 Kobra The 9K112 Kobra ( NATO reporting name: AT-8 Songster) is a SACLOS anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union. It is fired from the 125 mm main guns of the T-64 and T-80 series of tanks. A newer design based on the same concept is the 9M119 ...

(AT-8 Songster) was the first Soviet tube fired

to enter service; however, it was only deployed in limited numbers to front line units. Development work began in the late 1970s on a third generation of guided projectiles that would use laser guidance rather than radio command links. The guidance system was developed by Igor Aristarkhov, and the missile was developed by Petr Komonov. The Bastion was developed firstly as a relatively cheap missile fired from towed MT-12 100 mm smoothbore anti-tank guns. The 9M117 missile was part of the 3UBK10 round and the whole weapon system was designated 9K116 Kastet. A laser guidance device was seated on a tripod next to the gun. The system was commissioned in 1981. During development of the 9K116 system, it was recognized that it could enhance the long range firepower of the older

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tank ...

and

T-62 The T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank that was first introduced in 1961. As a further development of the T-55 series, the T-62 retained many similar design elements of its predecessor including low profile and thick turret armour. In contras ...

tanks. The system for the T-55's D-10T 100 mm rifled gun was designated 9K116-1 Bastion (3UBK10-1 round); and for the T-62's U-5TS 115 mm smoothbore gun, 9K116-2 Sheksna (3UBK10-2 round).Angelskiy, R. (2002), p. 117-119 The 9M117 missiles were identical, as in the towed version; however, the 115 mm version had additional guiding rings. They were commissioned in 1983. Then, the 9K116-3 system was developed for the 100 mm rifled gun of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, commissioned in 1987. Similar systems, with larger caliber 9M119 Svir missiles, were developed for the 125 mm guns of the

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

and

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72. The chief designer of the T-80 was S ...

tanks.

Description

The 100 mm round resembles a normal 100 mm anti-tank round, and is loaded and fired in the same fashion. The round uses a reduced explosive charge to launch the projectile out of the barrel of the

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

at around 400 to 500 m/s. After leaving the gun barrel, a small cover falls away from the window on the rear of the missile. The

rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordan ...

ignites 1.5 seconds after firing the missile, and it burns for 6 seconds. The projectiles use

laser guidance. A cone of laser light divided into sectors is projected from the launching tank/vehicle/gun, each sector having a different frequency or modulation. The missile has a small window in the rear with a laser sensor to detect the modulation of the

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

. Using this modulation, the missile steers itself, maintaining its position in the cone. The laser beam is zoomed during the missile flight so it has the same diameter (about 6 meters) throughout the missile flightpath. The laser beam-riding guidance system is smaller than a radio command one, and cheaper and simpler than semi-active laser guidance. The missile is also not prone to radio or optical jamming. On the other hand, the target has to be tracked by laser sight all the time, and the system can not be reliably used on the move. The missile's flight time to 4,000 meters is approximately 12 seconds. After 26 to 41 seconds, the missile self-destructs.

Variants

Cartridges firing the 9M117 ''Bastion'' missile; average armour penetration 550 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 ...

equivalency after ERA * 100 mm 3UBK10 (MT-12) * 100 mm 3UBK10-1 (T-55) * 115 mm 3UBK10-2 (T-62) * 100 mm 3UBK10-3 (BMP-3) Cartridges firing the 9M117M ''Kan'' Tandem

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

missile; average armour penetration 600 mm RHAe after ERA * 100 mm 3UBK10M (MT-12) * 100 mm 3UBK10M-1 (T-55) * 115 mm 3UBK10M-2 (T-62) * 100 mm 3UBK10M-3 (BMP-3) Cartridges firing the 9M117M1 ''Arkan'' Tandem

missile with extended range of 100–6,000 m; average armour penetration 750 mm RHAe after ERA * 100 mm 3UBK23 (MT-12) * 100 mm 3UBK23-1 (T-55) * 115 mm 3UBK23-2 (T-62); average armour penetration 850 mm RHAe after ERA * 100 mm 3UBK23-3 (BMP-3); firing Range, 100-5,500 m

Sources

*Angelskiy, R., ''Otechestvennye protivotankovye kompleksy'' ("Domestic anti-tank systems"), Moscow, 2002,

Footnotes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:9m117 Bastion Anti-tank guided missiles of Russia Anti-tank guided missiles of the Soviet Union Military equipment introduced in the 1980s