Soviet Missile Tanks

[Vespers War]

In addition to air-to-air radars generally having less concern about clutter, the AWG-9's also about a decade newer than the anti-tank systems described so far. IIRC, development started in 1968 and the first prototype was turned on in 1970. The APG-71 was a 1980s upgrade to fully digital systems for the radar.

The missile tank craze was a fairly brief one, running from 1958 to 1968, with the eventual solution being the gun-launched missile as introduced by Kobra/Songster in 1976. The combination MCLOS/IR KL-8 Sprut is going to be a one-off. Everything else from here on out is either SACLOS with radio guidance or unguided. The Soviets never went for a wire-guided ATGM on a tank, probably because reloading would have been a nightmare.

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

The Soviets never went for a wire-guided ATGM on a tank, probably because reloading would have been a nightmare.

Reloading is not a problem, just a hassle. What kills the concept is that these wires are extremely fragile. So launching them out of barrel almost certainly means they would snap. With the spool or connection made to something that would have to stay in the tank, there would be almost no way for the wires not to connect to the barrel front once the tank moves, rotates the turret or elevates or depresses the barrel. Especially, when one considers the stabilization of gun systems of this earlier era.

So, suddenly one has a tank that cannot move for 5-10 seconds. It can also not reload or shoot, since the wires are still connected to the gun system somehow (e. g. a spool winding of wire sits in the breach). Eere the point Vespers War made becomes relevant. That's not only absurdly dangerous, it's also completely against Soviet doctrine.

The Soviets emphasized large scale armored formations, driving forward constantly with later tanks mopping up remaining enemy vehicles and emplacements not destroyed by previous waves. Soviet C2 also was notoriously bad, so a tank stopping for its missile to be guided properly into an enemy tank would not only be a sitting duck, unable to shoot onto a target presenting itself or gearing up for a shot. Such a stopped tank would also break formation, disturb command and control of its formation and thus wave, creating an obstacle for later waves and would later need to rejoin its original wave.

An IR guidance system a better idea, as is radio guidance, which is used by the AT-8 Songster (9K112 Kobra). However, what seems to be most precise is a laser guidance system, as the later developed AT-11 Sniper (9M119 Svir/Refleks) uses. Still, all these SACLOS methods need to keep the gunner, looking, and quite often the barrel pointing, in direction of the target. So these weapons are rarely used on the offense. For such usage, fire-and-forget missiles are needed.

[Vespers War]

To help illustrate why missile tanks were a thing, here's what the British thought they needed to defeat the IS-3. They believed the front armor on the IS-3 would be immune to the rifled 120mm on the M103 and the Conqueror (it wasn't, but they thought it would be). Thus, they went big. No, bigger. No, even bigger than that - they took the Conqueror hull and slapped on the 7.2" howitzer to make a 183mm tank gun. The gun was only outfitted with HESH ammunition in two-piece format, with a 72.5 kilogram shell and 33 kilogram propellant charge. While the tank version was never built, the FV4005 tank destroyer tested the gun, but before the tank version could be manufactured the introduction of the Malkara ATGM with its 203mm HESH warhead launched from Humber Hornets made it clear the entire concept would rapidly become obsolete.

FV215
Fire Control: +1
Stabilization: None
Armament: 183mm L4, M2 roof mount, M1919 coaxial
Ammo: 20x183mm, 950x12.7mm, 6000x7.62mm
Fuel Type: G, A
Veh Wt: 66 tonnes
Crew: 5 (commander, gunner, 2 loaders, driver)
Mnt: 22
Night Vision: Headlights
Tr Mov: 90/54
Com Mov: 15/9
Fuel Cap: 1137
Fuel Cons: 500
Config: Veh
Susp: T:6
HF: 75
HS: 15Sp
HR: 10
TF: 76
TS: 5
TR: 5

183mm L4
Rld: 4 Rng: 325
HESH: C:54 B:37, Pen 34C
Note: reload is with 2 loaders. With 1, double reload time to 8.

[Vespers War]

Once it became apparent that Object 282 would not be receiving any Salamander missiles, the question became what to do with the dual-launcher platform. It was decided to use the vehicle's two launchers to test two different anti-tank rockets. Not missiles. Unguided rockets. The Soviets very optimistically expected to take out enemy tanks at ten kilometers with unguided rockets. The only official statement I've seen is that the fire control system was inadequate. Given that hitting a target with an unguided projectile at ten kilometers would be a near-miracle today, I'm pretty sure that fire control system was doing its early 1960s best, and that its best was nowhere near good enough.

The two rockets tested on the updated Object 282T were the 132mm TRS-132 and the TRS-152, which (surprise!) was 152mm. The test vehicle had two drum magazines, one on the right with 6 TRS-152 and one on the left with 8 TRS-132. There were also 5 and 7 rockets of each type respectively stored under the turret as reloads. The vehicle could also be fitted to carry just one type of rocket, with either 22 TRS-152 or 30 TRS-132 - some sources mention a centrally-mounted launch rail for this, but I've never seen a photograph or drawing of that, so it may have just been a concept.

The basic vehicle stats are the same as the previously-posted Object 282, but replace the missile launcher with the following weapons:

TRS-132
DF Range 300, C14 B27, Pen 72C, Indirect Fire 7000

TRS-152
DF Range 400, C19 B31, Pen 84C, Indirect Fire 10000

The DF ranges are semi-wild guesses loosely based on Paul's Artillery Rockets page. Indirect Fire range is the intended maximum range. Damage and penetration are at TL-6 (1950) levels. At TL-7 (1970), the TRS-132 would be C17 B29, Pen 99C and the TRS-152 C23 B33, Pen 115C.

Honestly, if given HE warheads instead of HEAT, these probably wouldn't have been terrible rocket artillery platforms. They'd be heavy and expensive, but able to stay with tank units on the assault. As anti-tank systems they suffer from using unguided projectiles for long-range attacks.

[Vespers War]

Now we get to my favorite of the missile tanks and the reason I started this thread, Object 287. The Soviets finally gave up on modifying old heavy tanks, and built this on the hull of a T-64. Removing the gun turret and replacing it with an extremely low-profile rotating platform cut the weight to 36.5 tonnes. The main armament was a pop-up launcher for 9M15 Taifun missiles, with 15 of the missiles on board. Secondary armament was a pair of 73mm 2A25 Molniya low-pressure launchers, which have been described as very similar to the BMP-1’s 2A28 Grom, possibly with shorter barrels (I’ve used Paul’s stats for the Grom with a slightly reduced range for the Molniya below). Each launcher had 16 rounds available in a pair of 8-round drums. Finally, each Molniya had a coaxial PKT machine gun, with 1500 rounds each. The missile launcher is vertically stabilized, to allow at least some sort of firing on the move. The tank was not accepted due to poor performance – out of 45 test firings of Taifun, only 16 hit their target, with 8 misses, 18 failures of the system, and 3 unrecorded results.

The one key thing that makes me like this one is they finally accepted the fact that ATGMs would have a minimum effective range and the missile tank would need something to protect itself in a knife fight. The twin Molniya launchers probably aren’t the most mass-effective way to get that protection, but it’s an attempt to address the problem.

Fire Control: +1
Armament: 9M15 Taifun pop-up launcher, 2x 73mm Molniya, 2x PKT
Ammo: 15x140mm missile, 32x73mm, 3000x7.62mm
Fuel Type: G, A
Veh Wt: 36.5 tonnes
Crew: 3 (commander, gunner, driver)
Mnt: 18
Night Vision: Passive IR (D, G, C)
Tr Mov: 198/139
Com Mov: 31/21
Fuel Cap: 1000
Fuel Cons: 400
Config: Veh
Susp: T:6
TF: 69Sp
TS: 22Sp
TR: 12
HF: 86Sp
HS: 18Sp
HR: 10


9M15 Taifun
Missile caliber: 140mm
Guidance: Radio MCLOS
Missile speed: 250
Reload 2, HEAT warhead, Min Range 500, Max Range 4000*, Damage C19 B31, Pen 105C, Difficulty DIFF
*Max range at night is 1500 due to gunner night-vision limitations

2A25 Molniya
Rld 1, Range 225
HE C:8 B:20, Pen 4C
HEAT C:5 B:15, Pen 51C