Anti-tank rifle: the history of the emergence and development

From the very beginning, Invincible Sergei Pavlovich wantedto develop a completely different rocket. Circumstances and prospects made it possible to create the most perfect antitank weapons at the time. Almost 15 years later the Chrysanthemum ATGM remains in service and achieves incredible results.

First of all, the Invincible said that anyThe weapon should be created so that in 25 years it was not thrown out in the scrap because of obsolete elements, but modernized and improved. Thus, an anti-tank rifle was conceived.

The idea of ​​the Invincible was tocreate installations that will hit the enemy tank not on the side, on the side of the armor, but directly on the hatch. In this case, radionavigation variants have already become impossible, laser ones have also become unusable. But, unfortunately, not enough time. Demonstrative firing in 1981 the Minister of Defense rejected, according to him, in such a smoke it is simply impossible to continue working.

On his orders, the idea itself was rebuiltinstallation. Whatever it was, but Ustinov's order to alter the anti-tank rifle in the shortest time was fulfilled. The laser system was definitely unsuitable, therefore radio waves were used. But there was a problem with the frequency: the safer it is for the crew, the more difficult the guidance, the less the distance of the defeat.

The problem was more or less solved in 1984 -the size of the gun was simply amazed, the rocket punched up to 1.2 meters of armor, but the design was too cumbersome and uncomfortable. At the same time, the installation has become much "smarter" than its prototypes. Now it weighed about 3 tons and could be mounted on BMP-3, thanks to which surface targets were amazed. Also, in any weather, ground targets could be destroyed with an enemy speed of not more than 60 km / h and air targets of up to 340 km / h.

Now the operation of the locator was in the range100-150 GHz, and a genius idea of ​​engineering thought made it possible for the first time to make ATGM fully automatic. All the actions to find the enemy, prepare the missile and the shot pass without the participation of a person, the operator only presses the "start" button.
Anti-tank rifle, or ATGM, in conditionsgood visibility was able to work with laser guidance, but in this case the installation becomes semi-automatic. It is worth noting that it is possible to shoot from two guns at the same time, thanks to different guidance points and rocket feeds.

"Chrysanthemum" has many unitsTechniques: for verification, guidance, but it is possible the operation of the combat vehicle separately. Of course, this installation can be put on other types of chassis, for example, on a boat, or even make a stationary structure. Unfortunately, the aviation variant was not developed and it is impossible to apply.

PTRK "Chrysanthemum", which from itsprototypes was named "anti-tank gun", has really every chance of modernization and has already immortalized itself in history as one of the best means of hitting enemy equipment. Who knows, perhaps, very soon this type of weapon will become the most powerful in the world among its counterparts.