Overview

Guided rounds capability first appeared on Soviet tanks with the introduction of 9K112 guided weapons suite on a T-64B MBT in 1976, drawing on an extensive guided weapons programme of the 50s and 60s.

Opposite to the popular belief in the West that it is similar in capability to the abortive US Shillelagh program, it is actually a far more mature weapons system, that drastically extended the traditionally unremarkable range of Soviet MBTs to the point where they actually outranged any NATO ground-based weapons system, as well as providing them with viable anti-helicopter weapon, and augmenting the penetrating power of their guns. However, this was a very expensive system. By means of example, T-64B MBT was over 20% more expensive than the T-64B1 model whose only difference was the lack of 9K-112 suite. The price of each 9M-112 missile was roughly equivalent to the price of a civil car. In addition the system was beyond the grasp of an average recruit and normally only officers were authorized to handle it. Finally, there were problems with missile's preparation for fire due to a peculiar way it was adapted for the T-64 autoloader (the weapon actually consisted of two parts that were snapped together as part of the loading sequence; this also precluded the installation of this system in T-72 tanks that have a different autoloader design).

Most of these problems were eliminated in the follow-on 9K-119 guided weapons suite that is installed in T-80U and T-90 MBTs, and 9K-120 suite installed in T-72B MBT.

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