antitank guided missile

antitank guided missile, medium or long-range missile whose primary purpose is to destroy tanks and other armoured vehicles.

A variety of rockets and missiles are employed against armoured vehicles, but the most sophisticated are antitank guided missiles (ATGM), which can be directed to a target by several different guidance systems, including laser guiding, television camera, or wire guiding. ATGMs can be launched from aircraft or land vehicles or by infantry. The most compact systems are small enough to be carried and operated by a single soldier, and advanced models, such as the U.S. Javelin, are “fire and forget” missiles, which means that once the ATGM has been launched, it directs itself toward the target by using digital imaging. An ATGM can also be used against fortified positions or low-speed aircraft.

The first ATGMs were developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They employed manual guidance systems requiring the operator to steer the missile to the target by wire with a joystick or similar control device. Examples include the British Vigilant missile and the Soviet Sagger, one of the most widely produced of all ATGMs. One drawback of such weapons was the extensive training required to operate them; another was that the weapon crew was forced to remain in the firing position—possibly exposed to danger—until the missile had struck its target. In the mid-1960s semiautomatic guidance systems, which required the operator only to keep the weapon sight pointed at the target while the missile was in flight, reduced the difficulty of using ATGMs. Guidance was by wire, radio, or laser. Many weapons of this type, such as the U.S. TOW missile, the Chinese Hongjian-8, and the Russian Kornet, remained in service into the 21st century.

The fire-and-forget technology of advanced ATGMs such as the U.S. Javelin and the Israeli Spike, allows a soldier to select the target through an optical or infrared viewer attached to the missile’s launch tube. Once fired, the missile flies to the target without further action from the operator. In the case of the Javelin, this is accomplished by a camera in the nose of the missile that takes new images of the target and compares those images with what is stored in its memory. Advanced air-to-surface missiles intended for use against tanks also incorporate fire-and-forget guidance systems. Most new ATGMs fly at high arcs and are able to attack their targets from above, avoiding detection and piercing the armament at the weakest point.