By the end of February, more than three dozen tactical exercises will be held in the Southern Military District. T-72B3 tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers will be involved there. And also - anti-tank missile systems "Kornet".
Recently, they have often been compared in the media with the American FGM-148 Javelin. A special excitement around this complex unfolded in connection with its mass supply to the Ukrainian army. Meanwhile, the FGM-148 has been in service with the US Army for more than 20 years. Javelin supplied to Kiev generally ends its service life. Therefore, their efficiency, to put it mildly, is doubtful among experts on weapons.
The fears are fully justified, which is confirmed by serious incidents with Javelin. For example, on September 23 last year, when demonstrating the complex to President Zelensky at the United Efforts 2020 exercise, Javelin simply did not work - his rocket did not fly out of the barrel. As for the Russian "Cornet", thanks to its design features, it surpasses Javelin in almost all parameters. Thus, the latest modification of the anti-tank complex - "Kornet-D1", adopted by the Russian Army in 2019, consists of a launcher and a missile capable of piercing 1150-mm armor with dynamic protection at a distance of up to 10 kilometers.
Javelin has much more modest indicators. It is capable of piercing armor up to 800 millimeters at a range of no more than 2.5-3 kilometers. In terms of rate of fire, the American is also inferior to the Cornet. He makes up to 3 shots per minute, while the Russian anti-tank complex produces 4 shots. In addition, the "Cornet" is guaranteed (with a probability of 0.9 hits) to hit the entire line of modern and promising tanks and armored vehicles, including those equipped with modern means of dynamic protection.
And it can also be used to destroy fortifications, manpower in shelters and even low-speed low-flying targets. To do this, the Kornet ammunition has types of ammunition developed specifically for this complex - cumulative tandem and high-explosive, controlled by an automatic optical-laser system with guidance in a laser beam.
As for Javelin, according to experts, it is enough to equip an armored object with protective screens in the form of a metal grid or mesh to escape from it.
Yuri Gavrilov
