When Igla launch goes bad

[Dawes]

OK, what happened here? Seems like the missile was stuck in the launch tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QcX8iZCh8I

[Stuart Galbraith]

In Russia, missile launch you!

 

[Interlinked]

These things are usually held in place by a shear pin. Maybe the ejection charge was defective or damaged and lost enough of its thrust that the shear pin didn't break, so the whole launcher was carried off. Then the missile's own engine went off because its delay timer had no acceleration-based safety, since it's a bit hard to make something like that for a soft launch.

[DB]

An interesting failure mode. Looks like the main motor ignition isn't dependent on the missile being successfully ejected. Might be ok from a vehicle mount, or if Arnie is holding the tube launcher, but far from ideal here.

Crew very lucky.

Edit: ejected, not rejected

Edited September 19 by DB

[Interlinked]

A lot of systems work that way, including anti-tank stuff like Javelin. But failing to leave the tube is indeed rare, I agree.

[rmgill]

Isn't it fuze active at that point too? 

[Interlinked]

No the fuze is armed by the acceleration from the missile's engine. Plenty of gs there.

[DB]

I'd have expected that the motor ignition would also be triggered only above a certain level of acceleration, but either that isn't the case or for some reason the trigger point isn't calculated to avoid the failure case shown here.

If the fuze had been armed, the crew would have been sliced and diced, or perforated, depending on the warhead type. The missile hit the ground practically at their feet.