The RK-3 Corsar
// "Army Recognition" (

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

: ''РК-3 Корсар'') is a

portable

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 ...

developed by Luch State Kyiv Design Bureau. 25 July 2013, Luch has conducted a live firing test of its new antitank missile system Corsar at a firing range near

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. Corsar is likely to replace Soviet era anti-tank systems such as the

9M113 Konkurs The 9M113 ''Konkurs'' (russian: 9М113 «Конкурс»; en, "Contest"; NATO reporting name AT-5 ''Spandrel'') is a Soviet SACLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile. A development of the 9K111 Fagot with greater firepower, the 9M113 Konkurs can u ...

and

9K111 Fagot The 9K111 ''Fagot'' (russian: Фагот; "bassoon") is a second-generation tube-launched semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union for use from ground or vehicle mounts. The 9K111 Fa ...

Overview

Corsar is a light portable anti tank missile system. It is intended to destroy stationary and moving armored targets. It can also be used against emplacements, light-armored objects and helicopters. Firing can be carried out from the mount as well as from a trench parapet. A method of guidance is laser beam riding. The system has two types of warheads. RK-3K

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 ...

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 al ...

warhead with at least 550mm penetration behind

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and RK-3OF high explosive-fragmentation warhead with at least 50mm penetration. RK-3K warhead might be able to counter the front armor of medium weight

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 such as

T-72A The T-72 is a Soviet Union, Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front- ...

. The system also has HE-fragmentation RK-3OF warhead to attack Infantry positions and light armored vehicles. The system has a

thermal imager A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

for use in night time operation.

Development

Ukraine's state-owned defense contractor State Kyiv Design Bureau, Luch started the project in the early 2000s. A prototype was debuted during the 2005 IDEX arms show in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

. On July 25, 2013 at a landfill near Kyiv, successful tests of the missile were conducted. During testing, the Corsar missile demonstrated the ability to fire both a guided and an unguided rocket using the same launcher. On August 29, 2017,

Ukroboronprom , type = State-owned enterprise , location = , industry = Conglomerate: Defense industry , predecessor = , founded = , founder = , hq_location_city = Kyiv , hq_location_country = Ukraine , num_locations = , num_locations_year = , ...

reported that the Corsar Lightweight Portable Missile System, which was developed by the Luch State Design Bureau, was adopted by the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the Army, land forces of Ukraine and one of the five Military branch, branches of the Armed For ...

, according to the Ministry of Defense. In November 2018, an updated version of the system with Greek-made

thermal imaging camera A thermal imaging camera (colloquially known as a TIC) is a type of the thermographic camera used in firefighting. By rendering infrared radiation as visible light, such cameras allow firefighters to see areas of heat through smoke, darkness, o ...

added to the launcher was demonstrated. Corsar missile became a basis for Polish Pirat anti-tank missile, developed in cooperation of Polish firms and Luch bureau, in which beam-riding guidance was replaced with

semi-active laser homing Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

Operators

* **

Border Guards Bangladesh Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) are a paramilitary force responsible for the border security of Bangladesh. The force is known as "The Vigilant Sentinels of the National Frontier". The BGB is entrusted with the responsibility to defend the borde ...

* **

Saudi Arabian Army Royal Saudi Land Forces ( ar, القُوَّاتُ البَرِّيَّةُ المَلَكِيَّة السُّعُودِيَّة, Al-Quwwat al-Bariyah al-Malakiyah as-Su'udiyah) is the land warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arab ...

* **

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corsar Anti-tank guided missiles Anti-tank guided missiles of Ukraine Military equipment introduced in the 2010s

Overview

Development

Operators

See also

References

External links