Anti-tank guided missile
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An Anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) or weapon (ATGW) is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. ATGMs range in size from small shoulder-launched portable weapons, to very large vehicle- or aircraft-mounted missiles capable of defeating the heaviest tank armour.
Command guided missiles are guided manually (MCLOS) or semi-automatically (SACLOS). Guidance commands are sent to the missile through wires or radio. More advanced guidance systems rely on laser marking or a TV camera view from the nose of the missile, and some of the latest models are "fire-and-forget" and even "fire-and-fix".
Most ATGMs have shaped-charge HEAT warheads, designed specifically for penetrating armour. Double-warhead missiles attempt to defeat very heavy or spaced vehicle armour. Top-attack weapons are designed to focus the explosion down through an AFV's thinner top armour.
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.
Anti-tank weapons like Bazookas and RPGs are not considered ATGMs since they don't have any guidance system.
See also
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