9K112 Kobra

9K112 Kobra
A 125 mm calibre 9K112 "Kobra" anti-tank round; this is a gun-launched, rocket-assisted, guided projectile (known as a cannon-launched, guided projectile or CLGP in US parlance). Range is 100 - 4000 metres, flight speed is 400 m/s. Armor-piercing ability (against spaced armour) is up to 700 mm and the probability of destruction of targets 80%. From the collection of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer & Signal Corps - St. Petersburg, Russia
Type	Anti-tank missile
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1976–present
Used by	Soviet Union
Production history
Designer	KB Tochmash
Designed	1970s
Produced	1975–1979 (9M112), 1979–1984 (9M112M)
Variants	9M112M, 9M112M2, 9M124
Specifications
Weight	23.2 kg
Effective firing range	100–4,000 meters
Warhead weight	4.5 kg
Guidance system	SACLOS radio

The 9K112 Kobra (NATO reporting name: AT-8 Songster) is a SACLOS anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union. It is fired from the 125 mm main guns of the T-64 and T-80 series of tanks. A newer design based on the same concept is the 9M119 (NATO reporting name AT-11 Sniper).

The first generation of Soviet missile tanks started in 1956 when V.A. Malyshev was ordered by Nikita Khrushchev to instill a "new thinking" into the weapons design bureaus. Part of this "new thinking" was the development of missile tanks, including the IT-1 firing the Drakon missile and the Taifun armed Obiekt 297. However, these early tank designs were failures. A purely missile armed tank had a 300-meter deadzone around it, where it could not engage targets—also the size of the early missiles limited the number carried. Hybrid designs compromised both main gun firepower and missile carrying capacity.

These limitations led to the development of a hybrid system, where the missile was fired through the barrel of the tank's main cannon. The first generation of this concept was the Obiekt 775 tank, armed with a 125 mm smoothbore gun that could fire high explosive unguided rockets, or a radio command guided projectile. The guided projectile was called Rubin (Ruby) and the unguided projectile called Bur (Drill). The tank could carry 24 Rubin missiles and 48 Bur rockets. The project was a failure, as the Rubins shaped charge warhead was not effective enough, and there were concerns that the missiles command link could be jammed.

Development continued during the 1960s. but it was not until the 1970s that serious attention was paid to the concept again. This was probably because of three factors:

The development of a second generation of Soviet tube fired guided projectiles began in the 1970s. The Kobra missile system was in competition with the IR guided Gyurza system. The IR guidance system of the Gyurza missile proved troublesome and the Kobra was put into production. The 9K112 was first mounted on a new version of the T-64B in 1976. The later T-80B in 1978 was also armed with the system. The Gyurza system continued to be developed, dropping the IR guidance system in favour of radio command guidance - it was then developed into the Shturm or AT-6 Spiral.