Baby (ATGM)

It was developed at the Design Bureau of Engineering ( Kolomna ) in 1960. Chief Designer - S.P. Invincible .

Piezoelectric fuses for the warhead of the rocket were developed by the Research Institute of Technology in Balashikha ^[1] .

During the next military parade on Red Square on May 1, 1962, military vehicles with dummies of rockets on guides drove in the front line. Thus, the complex was presented to the population and to foreign military observers present ^[2] . Western military experts immediately saw the similarities between the new Soviet anti-tank systems and its earlier French counterpart SS.11 , concluding that the two complexes are probably identical in terms of overall and tactical and technical characteristics. According to Western estimates, the complex ensured the defeat of targets at a distance of 500 meters to 3 km, which absolutely corresponded to the actual performance characteristics of Malyutki. ^[3]

September 16, 1963 was adopted. In the USSR, they were produced before 1984, more than 300 thousand pieces were produced, and was also mass-produced in China and Yugoslavia.

Designed to destroy tanks , engineering and fortifications, surface targets.

Various versions of the complex were produced and are being produced in Bulgaria, Iran, Poland, Czechoslovakia, China, Taiwan and other countries.

In the late 1960s, the rocket was modernized with an index of 9M14M. In the future, KBM proposed the option of modernizing the complex, which received the designation "Baby-2."

• Guidance system: command, by wire, manual
• Length: 860 mm
• Caliber: 125 mm
• Wingspan: 393 mm
• Missile mass: 10.9 kg
• Flight speed: 120 m / s
• Launch range: 500-3000 m
• Maximum range flight time: 26 s
• The speed of rotation of the projectile in flight: 8.5 rpm./s ^[4]
• Warhead: cumulative
• Warhead weight: 2.6 kg
• Penetration:
  • at an angle of 0 ° - 400 mm
  • at an angle of 60 ° - 200 mm
• Chance to hit a tank type target: 0.7

Indices of systems and missiles GRAU MO USSR

The basic model is the Malyutka 9K11 anti-tank system with a 9M14 missile as part of the 9P110 Ovod combat vehicle on the BRDM-1 chassis

• ATGM “Baby-M” 9K11M with missiles 9M14M and 9M14M1
  • as part of the 9P122 combat vehicle on the BRDM-2 chassis
• MTR “Malyutka-P” 9K11P with missiles 9M14P and 9M14P1
  • as part of the 9P133 combat vehicle on the BRDM-2 chassis
• ATGM “Baby-2” 9K11-2 with missile 9M14-2
  • as part of the 9P133 combat vehicle on the BRDM-2 chassis
• Baby M2T (Maliutka M2T; Romania) is an upgrade option by replacing the cumulative charge with a charge from the Milan 2T ATGM, upgrading the engine and control systems, increasing armor penetration to 880 mm. ATGM was installed on the BMI MLI-84M and RN-94, as well as on the ZIMBRU 2000 armored personnel carrier, but it did not go into the series. ^[five]

•   HJ-73 (Red Arrow 73) is a Chinese unlicensed copy.

War in Vietnam (1957-1975)

The first combat use of the Malyutka ATGM was noted on April 23, 1972 during the Vietnam War during the capture of the city of Tan Chang, when the M48A3 tank and the M113 armored personnel carrier of the 2nd company of the 20th tank battalion of southern Vietnam were destroyed by these complexes. A case was noted when, by hitting the "Baby", the communications center was disabled, as a result of which the entire 22nd Infantry Division lost control. A little later, the “Little Ones” destroyed five M41 tanks and several more bunkers. A few days later, on April 27, ATGMs destroyed three M48A3 tanks of the 3rd squadron of the 20th tank group, occupying defensive positions on the Dong Ha line ^[17] . In total, during the operation alone, with the help of 9M14M, the troops of North Vietnam destroyed at least eight M41 and M48 tanks, apart from other equipment ^{[18] [19] [20]} .

ATGMs were actively used in subsequent battles.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

ATGM "Baby" were actively used in the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 , hitting a large number of armored and auxiliary equipment. Significant successes in this war were achieved by Egyptian operators. The Egyptian rocket launcher Abdul Aata destroyed 23 tanks in the first day of the war, and he hit 8 Patton tanks in one hour ^[21] . On the Syrian front, the battle for Tel Shams on October 12 was the most famous episode of the use of “Baby”.

In total, in 1973, according to the Arab side, with the help of ATGM 9M14, about 800 Israeli tanks were disabled ^[22] . Armor of American-made Israeli tanks made its way into 60% of the hits of the "Baby", in each of them killed an average of two tankers ^[23] .

According to American studies in 1973, only 6 to 25 percent of Israeli tank losses were from ATGM "Baby" ^[24] . The vast majority of Israeli tanks were destroyed by the fire of Arab tanks (from 45 ^[25] to 75 percent ^[26] ). The number 800 seems to include either the number of hits in the tanks, or several rocket launchers hit one tank, and each wrote down a destroyed car.

Western sources also claim that the commander of the 252nd division, General Albert Mandler, was killed by a hit of "Baby" in his armored car ^[27] . Confirmation of this in Israeli sources could not be found.

The main success of the Malyutka ATGM in Sinai was that the Egyptian infantry was able to capture the bridgehead on the east coast of the Suez Canal and, fighting face to face with Israeli tanks, was able to hold it before the Egyptian engineers made passages in the sandy mound.

During the war in Lebanon in 1982, 27 ATGM "Baby" were captured by Israel as trophies ^[28] .

During the 2006 war, Hezbollah fighters with the help of the anti-tank system "Baby" destroyed several units of various Israeli equipment. Also, rockets were used against Israeli infantry, who sat in houses ^{[29] [30]} .

War in Angola

In 1976, Cubans used the Malyutka ATGM from captured Portuguese helicopters against South African armored vehicles.

Afghan war

There were episodes in Afghanistan when the Malyutka ATGM was used by Soviet troops in the fight against the calculations of the enemy’s heavy machine guns.

... And now, only Zadorozhny figured out the stretch marks of these two mines, looks, some other threads covered with hoarfrost. “While I cut one thread after another quietly, I was horribly swallowed that my mother did not want to,” says Nikolai. Then it only became clear that there were threads from the ATGM systems launched by Warrant Officer Lukyanov. Evgeny Petrovich Lukyanov, commander of the business platoon, at one time graduated from the Pechora school of warrant officers of special forces, and was well versed in various weapons systems, including the ability to launch ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles). Our BMP-1s were equipped with Malyutka ATGMs, which, when launched, drag along a thin wire behind them to the very goal, through which they are controlled by the operator as a gunner from the tower of the combat vehicle. These installations can be fired at a distance of up to three thousand meters, sometimes there is a ground version, but with us they were only on BMPs. They were intended for shooting at enemy tanks. Since the shells were very expensive, at that time they were equal to the cost of the Zhiguli car, gunners were taught only theoretically, without a practical launch, so our fighters had no skills in using them.

Given all these circumstances, even before the onset of winter, Lieutenant Colonel Kerimbaev ordered precisely Lukyanov to hunt for the enemy large-caliber machine gun DShK, which annoyed us and, by the way, which he then destroyed. And these threads, which caused so much trouble to Nikolai Zadorozhny, turned out to be wires from those shells ....

- "The detachment of Kara Major." Zhantasov Amangeldy. Memoirs of an Officer of the 177th Special Forces

Iran-Iraq War

During the war, a case is known when the Iranian helicopter AH-1J was shot down from the Malyutka ATGM. ^[31]

Balkan Conflict

ATGM "Baby" were used during the war in Croatia . There is a known case when the Croatian T-34-85 tank of the Second World War successfully survived two hits of these ATGMs ^[32] .

• Angelsky R. D. Domestic anti-tank systems: Illustrated reference book. - M .: LLC "Publishing house ACT", 2002. - 192 p. - (Military equipment). - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-011744-2 .
• Tikhonov S.G. Defense enterprises of the USSR and Russia: in 2 vols . - M .: TOM, 2010 .-- T. 1 .-- 608 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-903603-02-2 .
• Tikhonov S.G. Defense enterprises of the USSR and Russia: in 2 vols . - M .: TOM, 2010 .-- T. 2 .-- 608 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-903603-03-9 .
• Shirokorad A. B. Encyclopedia of Domestic Missile Weapons 1918-2002 / Ed. A.E. Taras . - Mn. : Harvest , 2003 .-- 544 p. - (Library of military history). - 5100 copies. - ISBN 985-13-0949-4 .
• Shunkov V.N. Missile Weapon. - Mn. : Potpourri, 2003. - (Warfare). - ISBN 985-483-062-4 .
• Jencks, Harlan W. New Chinese Sagger . // Infantry . - March-April 1981. - Vol. 71 - No. 2 - P. 20-21 - ISSN 0019-9532. (about the Chinese unlicensed copy of the ATGM HJ-73)

• Anti-tank missile system "Baby" (9K14 / 9K11)
• PTRK 9K11 / 9K14 “Baby” Site “Steel and Fire. Tank power
• First-generation ATGM at AOI Online War Site
• Armor Hunters Mappers Forum
• "The detachment of Kara Major." Zhantasov Amangeldy. Memoirs of an Officer of the 177th Special Forces