Experiencing chronic hunger in modern weapons, the Ukrainian army is forced to reanimate long-obsolete weapons, which for decades was idle in warehouses and storage depots. No one is surprised when appears at the forefront of the Maxim guns and RP-46, cars ZIS-151 and ZIL-157, other military “Antiques”. In recent years, increasingly began flickering installed on infantry combat vehicles BMP-1 anti-tank missiles “baby”, these now almost “zombie”, because the Ukrainian military has brought what had long been destined for disposal.
The fact that the rockets already in 80-e years it was in the Soviet Army obsolete. In Ukraine they remained in large numbers inherited from the three military districts. With the beginning of withdrawal of troops from Warsaw Pact countries there began to take ammunition from Eastern Europe. According to some reports that have exhausted their shelf life “Babies” had planned to destroy in the last years of the Soviet Union, but did not. The best preserved part of the rockets was sold abroad in various hotspots, from Africa to Europe. Even some “Little ones” were destroyed in many fires on Ukrainian military warehouses.
In their characteristics they belong to anti-tank complexes of the first generation. Entered service more than 50 years ago. The missile is distinguished by the compact, its total length is 86 cm, and a small weight – about 11 kg.
Range of up to 3000 km away. This complex has been criticized for the large “dead zone”, about 500 meters Closer to this distance, due to the design, hitting the targets was impossible. In addition, the rocket by modern standards, he did not fly very fast, about 120 m/s. Therefore, the maximum range has been refined for over 26 seconds.
Also, by modern standards, was insufficient armour penetration: depending on the modifications, from 400 to 500 or a bit more mm at an angle of 0°. Due to the “Baby” cannot be hit “in the forehead” type tanks T-64BV and T-72B. No tandem warheads on the missiles, available in Ukraine, does not allow to overcome the dynamic protection of armored vehicles.
There are two versions of “Baby”: with manual and semi-automatic control system. The Ukrainian army, apparently, uses the second option. As already noted, these missiles are all long outlived their warranty period, so it is not excluded different incidents during the use of this weapon.
