By the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 4, 1968, it was required to create a new tactical missile system for hitting point targets deep in the enemy defense. The required accuracy of hitting the target is reflected in the title of the topic: "Point". The Kolomna Machine Building Design Bureau was made the main executor of the project, and S. P. Invincible. Other enterprises involved in the project were also identified: the Bryansk Automobile Plant was supposed to make the chassis for the machines of the complex, the Central Research Institute of Automation and Hydraulics - the missile control system, and the Volgograd PA "Barrikady" was responsible for the launcher. Serial production of the missiles themselves was planned to be deployed in Votkinsk.
Factory tests of the first version of "Tochka" began in 1971, and two years later began mass production. But for a number of reasons, "Tochka" was put into service only in 1976. The missile launch range was 70 kilometers, and the deviation from the target was no more than 250 meters. Immediately after the release of "Tochka" for testing, the Central Research Institute of AG began work on new electronics for modifying the rocket called "Tochka-R". This missile was supposed to have a passive radar homing head, but in the end it was decided to give the anti-radar niche to lighter missiles. Since 1989, the troops went to the updated Tochka-U complex, which included the new 9M79M and 9M79-1 missiles. In addition, part of the ground equipment was replaced with a new one.
As a result of the replacement of the missile, the maximum target destruction range increased to 120 km, and the minimum remained at the level of 15. The accuracy has also improved significantly - the deviation now does not exceed one hundred meters, although in general it has much smaller values. Thus, at the international exhibition IDEX-93, five Tochki-U missiles did not miss more than 50 meters. The minimum error was within 5-7 meters. Such high accuracy was achieved by using new guidance equipment available in the 9M79M and 9M79-1 missiles themselves. Unlike previous tactical missiles, the "Point" guidance system of all modifications provides course correction throughout the flight, right up to hitting the target. The inertial rocket control automation consists of a command-gyroscopic device, a discrete analog computer, a hydraulic drive automation and a set of sensors. In the first few seconds of the flight, until a certain speed is reached, the rocket is controlled using gas rudders, and then, throughout the flight, the course is adjusted using aerodynamic rudders of a lattice structure. The 9M79 engine runs on solid fuel and has only one mode. The cylindrical block of fuel with longitudinal grooves is started by means of an igniter (briquettes of a special composition and black powder). The combustion of the fuel mixture goes on until the missile meets the target - "Tochka" is the first Soviet tactical complex, where the engine is not switched off before the last stage of the flight.
In addition to the four lattice rudders, the rocket tail includes four trapezoidal wings. In the stowed position, all protruding parts are folded, turning relative to the rocket body. Several types of warheads for various purposes have been developed for the 9M79M and 9M79-1 missiles:
- 9N39 - a nuclear warhead with an AA-60 charge with a capacity of 10-100 kilotons in TNT equivalent;
- 9N64 - nuclear warhead with AA-86 charge. Power up to 100 kt.
- 9N123F - high-explosive fragmentation warhead with 162.5 kg of explosive and 14500 ready-made fragments. In an explosion at a height of 20 meters, objects on an area of up to 3 hectares are hit by fragments;
- 9N123K - cluster warhead. Contains 50 shrapnel elements with 1.5 kg of explosive and 316 shrapnel each. At an altitude of 2250 meters above the surface, the automatics unfold the cassette, as a result of which up to seven hectares are sown with fragments;
- 9N123G and 9N123G2-1 - warheads equipped with 65 elements with toxic substances. In total, the warhead can hold 60 and 50 kg of substances, respectively. There is information about the development of these warheads, but no data on production or applications. Most likely, they were not brought up and launched into a series.
It is also sometimes claimed that there are propaganda and anti-radar warheads, but there is no official data on them. The head is attached to the rocket with six bolts. The letter corresponding to the type of warhead is added to the alphanumeric index of the rocket - 9M79-1F for high-explosive fragmentation, 9M79-1K for cluster, etc. When assembled, a rocket with a non-nuclear warhead can be stored for up to 10 years. According to calculations, to destroy a MLRS battery or tactical missiles, it is required to spend 2 missiles with a cluster warhead or four with a high-explosive one. The destruction of an artillery battery requires half the consumption of ammunition. For sowing with fragments and destroying manpower and light equipment on an area of up to 100 hectares, four cluster or eight high-explosive missiles should go.
The rocket is launched from the 9P129M-1 vehicle, made on the BAZ-5921 chassis. The launcher equipment allows you to independently carry out all the necessary preparations for the launch and calculations related to the aiming and flight mission of the rocket. The start can be made from almost any site of sufficient size, and preparation for it takes about 16 minutes in the case of firing from the march or 2 minutes from the state of readiness No. 1. The only requirements for the placement of the launcher relate to the state of the surface of the site and the placement of the vehicle - the target must be in a sector of ± 15 ° from its longitudinal axis. It takes no more than one and a half to two minutes to roll up the installation and leave the launch site. An interesting fact is that the rocket (in the stowed position is placed in the cargo compartment of the launch vehicle on a lifting rail) is transferred to the launch elevation angle of 78 ° only 15 seconds before launch. This helps to hinder the work of the enemy's reconnaissance. The crew of the launch vehicle is four people: the head of the calculation, the driver, the senior operator (he is also the deputy head of the calculation) and the operator.
The missiles are placed on the launcher using the 9T218-1 transport-loading vehicle (made on the BAZ-5922 chassis). Its sealed cargo compartment can accommodate two missiles with docked warheads. To load missiles into the launch vehicle, the transport-loader has a crane and a number of related equipment. Loading work can be carried out on any, including an unprepared site, on which a launching and loading machine can stand side by side. It takes about twenty minutes to overload one rocket.
The complex also includes the 9T238 transport vehicle, which differs from the transport-loading vehicle only by the absence of loading equipment. The 9T238 can simultaneously carry up to two missiles or four warheads in shipping containers.
For more than twenty years of its service "Tochka-U" had a chance to participate in hostilities only a few times. General G. Troshev in his book "Chechen Breakdown" wrote that thanks to the use of this missile system, it was possible to prevent the departure of terrorists from the village of Komsomolskoye. The militants tried to pass between the positions of the army and the soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the missilemen covered them with an accurate salvo. At the same time, the federal forces, despite the short distances, did not suffer losses from the Tochka strike. Also in the press there was information about the use of "Points" in warehouses and camps of terrorists. During the war in South Ossetia in August 2008, information appeared about the use of "Tochk-U" by the Russian side.
Despite its already considerable age, the Tochka-U tactical missile system is not yet planned to be removed from service. There is a version that this will not happen before the time when the Russian army will have a sufficient number of operational-tactical "Iskander".
