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Rubin ATGM

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. However, these early tank designs were failures. 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 a radio command guided projectile was called Rubin (Ruby) and an unguided projectile called Bur (Drill). The tank could carry 24 Rubin missiles and 48 Bur rockets.

The Rubin guided missile, 125 mm in caliber and 1.5 m long, had a cumulative warhead (warhead weight 5.5 kg, explosive mass 2.7 kg), which pierced vertically positioned steel armor 500 mm thick. At that time, it reliably hit the frontal armor of all foreign tanks. The missile was aimed at the target using a semi-automatic system for the infrared beam. The rate of fire of the ATGM “Rubin” was 4-5 shots / min, the maximum firing range was 4000 m, and the missile flight speed was -550 m / s. The aimed range of the “Bur” projectile (developed by Scientific Research Institute-147, chief designer AN Ganichev) was 9000 m, the rate of fire was 8-10 shots / min, the average flight speed was 650-700 m / s.

The project was a failure, as the Rubin's shaped charge warhead was not particularly effective, and there were concerns that the missile's command link could be jammed.