March
2, 2023
U.S.
and U.K. forces have confiscated a shipment of "Dehlavieh" anti-tank
guided missiles, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
The
U.S. Navy's central command said U.S. forces had been involved in an operation
with Britain's Royal Navy to seize an "illegal weapons shipment from
Iran."
The
maritime forces seized a number of "Dehlavieh" anti-tank guided
missiles (ATGM), which are Tehran's version of the Russian 9M133 Kornet ATGM.
The
U.S. provided "airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support,"
according to the navy. The shipment was likely bound for Iranian-backed Houthi
rebels in Yemen, the Defense Department's Defense Visual Information
Distribution Service said.
The
"Dehlavieh" is the Iranian version of the Russian laser-guided anti-tank
missile, which first entered service for the Russian armed forces in 1998.
The
man-portable anti-tank missile is designed to pierce the armor of main battle
tanks. As well as portable versions, the Kornet can also be vehicle mounted. It
is a day/night missile system, with a jam-resistant laser-beam riding guidance
system, according to Russian state defence export organization,
Rosoboronexport.
It
can be used against ground and air targets, Rosoboronexport said, and has a
"fire and forget" function for locking onto targets.
Operating
in temperatures between -20 to +60 °C, newer versions have a range of five
miles, up from around 3.5 miles for previous Kornets, according to Russian
state media.
However,
according to Rosoboronexport, the maximum range of an upgraded export version
extends to over six miles in daylight.
It
is a third generation system, according to Insider, and the Kornet-E variants
are easy to use and personnel do not need extensive training to be able to
operate the anti-tank guided missile systems, according to military website
ArmyRecognition.com.
In
December 2021, the editor of Russia's Independent Military Review magazine told
state media that the Kornet can pierce any armor on enemy vehicles and tanks.
"The
Kornet self-propelled anti-tank missile systems can fire in tandem mode,
specifically, two missiles can be launched at a time within a single command
and control field to pierce the enemy armor's active protection system,"
Dmitry Litovkin told Tass.
"Both
missiles thus launched follow each other in a single laser beam with a short
interval, which helps deceive the armor's smart protection systems," he
added.
Serbian
President Aleksandar Vucic hailed the Kornets as "the best missiles in the
world" in December 2021, shortly after Belgrade received a shipment of the
anti-tank guided missiles from Moscow.
"They
are slightly better than Javelin missile systems, which are also
fantastic," he said, according to a Russian state media readout.
As
of February 24, the U.S. had committed more than 8,500 Javelin anti-armor
systems to Ukraine, and on Tuesday, Ukraine's defense department called the
Javelin an "American weapon" that "works wonders" for
Kyiv's armed forces.
A
single Ukrainian soldier destroyed five Russian tanks with a Javelin in a
single battle, the defense ministry added, calling the unnamed fighter "a
brilliant operator" of the anti-tank missile system.
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