The Russian army has used new combat elements "Motif" in its combat zone.
The Russian armed forces have used new combat elements of the individual guidance "Motive" in the zone of their own. Military observer of "Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok figured out what this was for another means of destroying enemy armored vehicles.
As part of the special operation, the Russian military used new weapons. We are talking about the combat elements "Motif", which are called "arrows of death". This became known from a message from military analyst Vladislav Shurygin, published on his Telegram channel .
He refers to a video taken in the Avdiivka area, where Russian units are using these elements against Ukrainian armored vehicles.
It is quite possible that we are talking about an upgraded version of the PTAB-SP ("Self-aiming anti-tank aviation bomb") and for the first time information about this novelty of the Russian defense industry appeared in February 2018. However, similar developments were conducted back in the 1980s.
But already in those days, the name "Motif-3" was used. Then the new weapon was called the SPBE, a "Self-aiming combat element." Subsequently, the letters "D" and "K" were added to this name.
The purpose of creating such ammunition is to adopt a lightweight and compact weapon capable of independently searching for and striking enemy armored combat vehicles.
The Motif guidance system uses an infrared radiation receiver as a means of searching for targets. The warhead of the self-aiming combat element is a shaped charge weighing about 4.5 kg. It is capable of piercing up to 70 mm of homogeneous armor at an angle of 30 degrees.
Currently, the Motif SPBE is part of the cluster munitions of the 9K58 Smerch, Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems, the RBK-250 or RBK-500 single-use bomb cassettes, as well as the PBK 500U SPBE-K planning bomb cassettes. The latter are called the "Drill".
SPBE-K stands for self-aiming combat element combined. The PBK-500U "Drill", which has 15 combat self-aiming elements, was tested in 2021, although it was planned to adopt it back in 2018.
Such weapons were originally designed to destroy armored combat vehicles and, first of all, tanks. Falling from above, self-aiming combat elements penetrate the upper, less protected part of combat vehicles. Therefore, a penetration of 70-100 mm in this case is quite enough to defeat the tank.
The use of self-aiming combat elements will make it possible to effectively hit enemy armored combat vehicles at long range. However, "Motives" can be used to destroy a wide range of enemy targets and facilities, from trucks to command posts.
The massive use of "death arrows" can create extensive damage zones for enemy equipment and manpower and fully justify its name. At the same time, effective means of countering self-targeting combat elements that could radically fend off this threat have not yet been developed.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
