9K115 Metys ATGM of the Polish Army

Chinese HJ-8 ATGM on a Chinese armoured vehicle.

An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) or anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored tanks and other armored fighting vehicles. Polish Army (Polish Wojsko Polskie) is the name applied to the military forces of Poland. ... Image File history File links APC_BaktarShikan. ... Image File history File links APC_BaktarShikan. ... HJ-8 ATGM on a Chinese armoured vehicle. ... A guided bomb strikes an underground facility Missile guidance technologies of missile systems use a variety of methods to guide a missile to its intended target. ... Exocet missile in flight A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a projectile propelled as a weapon at a target. ... An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military vehicle, equipped with protection against hostile attacks and often mounted weapons. ...

ATGMs range in size from shoulder-launched weapons which can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod mounted weapons which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems.

The introduction of smaller, man-portable ATGMs with larger warheads to the modern battlefield has given infantry the ability to defeat even heavily armored main battle tanks at great ranges, usually with the first shot. Earlier infantry anti-tank weapons such as anti-tank rifles, anti-tank rockets and magnetic anti-tank mines had limited armor-penetration abilities and/or required a soldier to approach the target closely. A B61 nuclear bomb in various stages of assembly; the nuclear warhead is the bullet-shaped silver cannister in the middle-left of the photograph. ... An anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks. ... Shoulder-launched weapons avoid the problem of recoil by directing all exhaust out the rear of the launch tube A shoulder-launched missile weapon is a weapon that fires a projectile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by one person, and fired while held on one... An Anti-tank mine, or AT mine is similar to a Landmine except generally designed with a less sensitive trigger and more explosive power so as to be able to take out an armored vehicle, and not go off until such a vehicle comes along. ...

First-generation manually command guided MCLOS missiles like the AT-3 Sagger require input from an operator using a joystick or similar device to steer the missile to the target. The disadvantage is that the the operator must be well trained and must remain stationary during the flight time of the missile ( and is therefore vulnerable to counter attack ). Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio (or possibly through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher) and tell the missile where to steer in order to intercept its target. ... MCLOS (short for Manual Command to Line of Sight) is a first-generation method for guiding guided missiles. ... AT-3A Sagger missile The AT-3 Sagger is the NATO reporting name for the 9M14 Malyutka (little or tiny baby) MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile of the Soviet Union. ...

Second-generation semi-automatically command guided SACLOS missiles require the operator to only keep the sights on the target until impact. Automatic guidance commands are sent to the missile through wires or radio, or the missile relies on laser marking or a TV camera view from the nose of the missile. Examples are the American TOW and Hellfire I missiles. Again the operator must remain stationary during the flight time of the missile. SACLOS (short for Semi-Automatic Command to Line-Of-Sight) is a second-generation method of missile guidance. ... A wire-guided missile is a missile guided by signals sent to it via thin wires reeled out during flight. ... Beam-riding guidance leads a missile to its target by means of radar or a laser beam. ... A TOW missile being fired from a Jeep. ... Type Air-To-Ground Missile Nationality United States Era Cold War Launch platform Helicopter, Unmanned aerial vehicle Target armored vehicles History Builder Lockheed Martin Date of design   Production period   Service duration   Operators See main text Variants See main text Number built   Specifications Type   Diameter 17. ...

More advanced third-generation guidance systems rely on a laser or a camera, on the nose of the missile. Once the target is identified the missile needs no further guidance during flight ( i.e it is "fire-and-forget" ) and the operator is free to retreat. Examples include the American Javelin and Indian Nag. Fire-and-forget is a third-generation method of missile guidance. ... A soldier practices with the Javelin on a firing range. ... Nag (Sanskrit for cobra) is Indias third generation fire and forget anti-tank missile. ...

Most modern ATGMs have shaped-charge high explosive (HEAT) warheads, designed specifically for penetrating armour. Tandem-charge missiles attempt to defeat very heavy or spaced vehicle armour by employing two separate warheads. Top-attack weapons are designed to focus the explosion down through an armoured fighting vehicle's thinner turret-roof or upper-hull armour. Sectioned HEAT round with the inner shaped charge visible A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosives energy. ... A HEAT round. ... A tandem-charge is a weapon that has two stages of detonation. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

Countermeasures against ATGMs include spaced, perforated, and composite armour, explosive reactive armour (ERA), jammers like the Russian Shtora, and active protection systems (APS) like Drozd and Arena. Traditionally the most effective countermeasure was to open fire at the location where the missile was fired from : either the operator would be forced to take cover or he would be killed. RNAFs F-16, firing countermeasures (flares) during a solo display at Radom Air Show 2005 A countermeasure is a system (usually for a military application) designed to prevent sensor-based weapons from acquiring and/or destroying a target. ... Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. ... M60A1 Patton tank with Israeli Blazer ERA. Reactive armor is a type of vehicle armor that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Shtora is a Russian electro-optical countermeasures suite, designed to disrupt the laser target designation and rangefinders of incoming ATGMs. ... An active protection system, or APS, protects a tank or other armoured fighting vehicle from incoming fire before it hits the vehicles armour. ... Drozd is best known as an active countermeasure system developed by Russia. ... The Arena Active Protection System (APS) is an active countermeasure system developed at Russias Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau to protect armoured fighting vehicles from shaped-charge projectiles. ...

Anti-tank weapons like bazookas and RPGs are not considered ATGMs since the projectile is unguided. For other meanings, see Bazooka (disambiguation) The bazooka was a man-portable anti-tank rocket launcher made famous during World War II where it was one of the United States Armed Forces primary infantry anti-tank weapons. ... An RPG-7 captured by the US Army A rocket propelled grenade (RPG) is a loose term describing hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons capable of firing an unguided rocket equipped with an explosive warhead. ...

See also

• List of anti-tank guided missiles
• List of missiles

A list of ATGMs by country. ... Below is a list of (links to pages on) missiles, sorted alphabetically by name. ...

External links

• HJ-8 Anti-tank guided missile
• Nag Missile