By Michael Smallwood
A YouTube video released last week by a Syrian Islamist rebel group in Daraa city shows wooden crates containing components of the Russian-made Kornet (Корнет; ‘Cornet’) man-portable anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW). This system, with the NATO reporting name AT-14 Spriggan, is one of the newer and more capable Russian-made ATGWs. Purportedly captured, the crates are labelled with the Cyrillic for 9P163-1 and 9M133-1; the codes relating to the portable launcher and missile with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead, respectively.
The 9M133-1 missile has a tandem shaped charge HEAT warhead, designed to defeat the reactive armour of modern tanks and capable of penetrating 1000 – 1200 mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA). There is also Kornet missile with a thermobaric warhead, the 9M133F-1.
The Kornet system has previously been documented in the hands of non-state armed groups in Libya, Gaza, and elsewhere.
9M133-1 Technical Details:
Range: 100 – 5500 m
Missile weight: 26 kg (29 kg in missile tube)
Calibre: 152 mm
Length: 1200 mm
Wingspan: 460 mm
Warhead Type: Tandem charge high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT)
Explosive weight: 4.6 kg
Range given is for daytime use. Listed range for night-time use is likely dependant on limitations of the attached thermal sight. Export models of the Kornet are believed to be sold only with the 1PN79M thermal sight, with target recognition up to 2500 m.
Missile schematic from rbase. Thanks to Twitter user @marktito0171.