A guided round is able to compensate not only for ballistic dispersion but also for aiming errors, including those resulting from fire on the move. Smart rounds can either carry some from of guidance and course-correction system designed to obtain a direct hit, or launch some form of submunition able to compensate for the effects of dispersion.

The KVH driver display is here shown in the Steer-To mode.

Either solution can add up to two kilometres to the maximum engagement range of a tank.

More than a dozen gun-launched guided missile systems have been developed by Russia. In practice there are only three basic models, two of which have been fielded in standard and improved versions. These guided projectiles form the basis for a series of rounds that can be fired from 100, 115 or 125 mm guns. A given model can be used in several types of round, each with its own designation. These rounds are in turn used by a series of vehicle- or ground-mounted systems, each with its own designation. The resulting tangle includes designations for the guided projectiles, the rounds which incorporate them and the systems which fire them.

Disorganisation in the preparation of Russian literature, or simply disinformation? The issue remains open. The 9M112 125 mm projectile was only used in the round fired by the 9K112 Kobra (AT-8 Songster) system on the T-64B and early T-80s. It used Saclos guidance via a radio command link, had a maximum range of five kilometres, and could penetrate 800 millimetres of armour. The first of Russia’s guided tank rounds, it is no longer in production.

The current missiles fired by 125 mm guns are the 9M119 and the improved 9M119M. These are laser-guided, and form the projectile of the 3UBK14 and 3UBK20 round respectively. Both types of round can be guided by the Svir (T-72B & -72S) or Refleks (T-80U, -80UD & -90) tank fire control systems.

To provide a guided round for older tanks, KPB developed the 9M117 and 9M117M laser-guided missile. This is used in the 3UBK10 series of rounds.

The 3UBK10-1 is fired by the 100 mm guns of modernised T-55s, and guided by the 9K116-1 Bastion guidance system, while the 3UBK10-2 is for the 115 mm gun of upgraded T-62s that have been fitted with the 9K116-2 Sheksna guidance equipment. For the 100 mm gun of the BMP-3, a lower-powered 9UBK10-3 round has been fielded, along with the vehicle-mounted 9K116-3 Basnya hardware. Rather than rely on Heat or explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warheads, Sweden plans to make its next anti-tank missile a hypersonic kinetic energy weapon. Bofors’ Buster is intended to fly at more than 2000 metres per second and penetrate frontal protections. The project was started in 1987 when the company received a contract from the Swedish FMV to investigate a kinetic energy anti-tank system capable of making frontal attacks. Phase 1 and 2 feasibility studies carried out between 1990 and 1992 were followed by a Phase 3A study which looked at the possibility of creating a missile able to engage armoured vehicles, aircraft, and helicopters. Such a dual role proved impractical, so Phase 3B concentrated on an anti-tank system capable of being mounted on a CV90. The missile would be fired from a remotely controlled eight-round launcher mounted above the turret. After being boosted to hypersonic speed by a rocket booster, the slim tungsten carbide penetrator would separate and fly out to the target. During the boost phase and unpowered flight the missile would be under the control of a guidance beam which would steer it to impact on targets at ranges from 400 to 4000 metres.

Heart of the optical fibre gyro-based Alps navigation system developed by BGT on which a variety of displays and keyboards can be connected to suit varying specifications.

If selected for development, the Buster would become Sweden’s long range anti-tank weapon from 2010 onwards. The ideal form of “smart” tank round is one with self-contained fire-and-forget guidance. Unless the target is so far away that the round cannot fly the entire distance, the maximum range of the projectile is that at which the crew can detect and identify a target. If target information can be obtained from an external source such as a digital data link, maximum range becomes that defined by the ballistics of the smart round.

The only tank smart round projects known to exist outside of the Russian Union (CIS) are the US Army’s 120 mm Smart Target Activated Fire and Forget (Staff) and X-Rod programmes. Both are being developed by Alliant Techsystems. The Staff requires no change to the tank turret and no unique actions by the tank crew other than setting a single range zone switch. It is fire-and-forget – as soon as the round has been fired, the tank crew can switch to another target. During ballistic flight, the Staff round establishes a vertical reference and orients itself with the ground. In the final seconds of flight, it activates a forward-looking millimetric wave sensor. This has a large footprint search and track mode. As it overflies the target it rolls to align its explosively formed penetrator warhead with the vehicle’s hull or turret top, then fires down into the tank. The round can thus be used to engage targets that are only fleetingly visible because of evasive action or terrain masking. A cost and operational effectiveness analysis carried out by the US Army Armor Center at Fort Knox claims that the combat effectiveness of an M1A2 could be increased by 219 per cent by adding four Staff rounds to the stowed ammunition load.

As part of the Direct Fire Lethality programme that is developing improved 120 mm rounds and gun stabilisation systems for the Abrams, the US Army is also working on an improved warhead for the Staff. In Fiscal Year 1998 it intends to statically demonstrate the technology for a dual-liner EFP warhead able to form an ultra-long EFP, and by Fiscal Year 2000 wants to test a new warhead with at least 33 per cent greater armour penetration than the current design. The X-rod is a manoeuvrable long rod penetrator that is fitted like a sabot round, then boosted to high speed by a rocket motor. It carries a fire-and-forget millimetric wave seeker and is steered by rocket thrusters. Impact velocity is around 1600 metres per second.

Once fire-and-forget rounds with autonomous guidance are in service, their effect on tactics will be dramatic. Instead of waiting until the range has fallen to two kilometres or less, defenders will be able to inflict long range attrition even on an enemy which is making good use of the terrain features to deny the defenders an effective line of sight.

Despite the likely cost of smart rounds, they may still prove a cost-effective method of conducting reconnaissance by fire. If the presence of enemy forces behind a terrain feature such as a ridge is suspected, and no drone is available to check the area, a fire-and-forget round could be despatched as a near-instant alternative.