9K121 Vikhr

The 9K121 Vikhr, whose name means Whirlwind and which NATO calls the AT-16 Scallion, is a Soviet laser-beam-riding anti-tank missile; 9K121 is the GRAU designation of the whole missile system. It can be launched from warships, Ka-50 and Ka-52 helicopters and Su-25T aircraft and has a range of roughly 8 kilometres from a helicopter and 10 kilometres from a fixed-wing aircraft by day. The Vikhr-1 version is part of the Vikhr-M system, which adds an automatic sight with television, infrared and laser channels. The two-stage tandem warhead with a fragmentation sleeve is meant to defeat armoured vehicles fitted with explosive reactive armour as well as soft and airborne targets, and is credited with about 750 millimetres of armour penetration. The missile spins in flight and steers with a single moving canard while a rear laser detector keeps it inside the guiding beam. It was adopted in 1990, an upgraded Vikhr-1 reached Russian troops from 2015, and it has been used by Mi-28 helicopters in the Russo-Ukrainian war.