Missile 9K115-1 Metis-M (AT-13 Saxhorn-2)

The 9K115-1 Metis-M, designated AT-13 Saxhorn-2 by NATO, is a Russian man-portable anti-tank guided missile system and the successor generation to the earlier 9K115 Metis. It was developed to reinforce company-level motorised units. The 9K115-2 Metis-M1 is the later upgraded variant, formalised by Russia in November 2015 and accepted into service on 2 March 2016.

The system uses semi-automatic command guidance with commands transmitted over a wire link. The gyroscopic coordinator, electronic units and onboard battery are located in the launch post rather than the missile itself, reducing round cost. Combat assets of the Metis-M comprise the 9M131 missile and the 9P151 launcher; the Metis-M1 adds the 9M131M and 9M131F rounds, the 9P151M launcher and the 1PN86BVI thermal sight, permitting engagement at night and in adverse weather. The 9M131F is a thermobaric round for use against fortifications and personnel.

A three-man crew carries the system in packs along with personal weapons and a five-missile load. One crew member carries the launcher with a missile already loaded, shortening preparation time and allowing engagement while on the move; the remaining two carry two missiles each. Transition between travelling and firing configuration takes 15 to 20 seconds, and the practical rate of fire is three to four rounds per minute. Firing is possible from prepared positions, from prone and standing foxhole positions, from combat vehicles, and — against targets appearing at short notice — from the shoulder with the launcher braced against a nearby object. The system can be moved by any transport type and is air-droppable.

The Metis-M1 offers increased range and reduced system weight relative to the Metis-M, with armour penetration of 900–980 mm behind explosive reactive armour. It is intended against main battle tanks fitted with ERA and active protection systems, light armoured vehicles and fortifications. South Korean trials of the baseline Metis-M recorded penetration of 850 mm of rolled homogeneous armour.

Operators include Algeria, Bangladesh, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Morocco, Russia, South Korea, Syria and Ukraine. Russian ground and airborne units employ the system. South Korea received its systems as Russian debt repayment, ordering 70 launchers in 1995 under Project Brown Bear I and 150 in 2005 under Project Brown Bear II, with some 9,000 missiles by 2006. Between 2009 and 2011 the South Korean Army fired 17 missiles in testing, of which 10 missed or failed to detonate. The system was temporarily withdrawn from service; a subsequent joint firing programme by the Army, the Agency for Defense Development and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration achieved 41 hits from 43 missiles. Faulty guidance electronics or poor storage were hypothesised but no cause was identified, and the system was returned to service. Bangladesh received Metis-M1 systems with 1,200 missiles in 2013.

Israeli accounts of weapons captured from Hezbollah, corroborated by journalists in Lebanon, indicate the Metis-M was used against Merkava tanks during the 2006 Lebanon War, with Israel presenting evidence in Moscow of Syrian transfers. On 7 March 2012 Free Syrian Army fighters struck a derelict Syrian Air Force MiG-23MS with a 9K115-2. Use spread through the Syrian Civil War against tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, trucks and firing positions, with rounds initially taken from looted Syrian Army depots and later supplied externally; Bulgaria sold six sets via the United States to Syrian rebels. Non-state users include the Donetsk People's Republic, the Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Islamic State, the People's Defense Units and Tahrir al-Sham. FUNCINPEC employed the system during the 1997 Cambodian coup.