Others seemed to have heat-emitting decoys on their snorkels (long tubes to allow river crossings) to lead warheads astray-though some Javelins cleverly have two warheads to foil such a trick.Īn additional line of defence is an active protection system (APS), a newfangled sort of defence that uses radar to detect incoming rounds and then fires explosively-formed projectiles outwards to stop them. In November, some Russian tanks near Ukraine were spotted with “slat” armour on top of the turret, perhaps to misdirect smaller explosives. All modern armoured vehicles can release obscuring smoke, some containing hot white phosphorus smoke, which confuses thermal sensors. Though the Javelin can hit a tank over two miles away, the NLAW requires the operator to get within a hair-raising 800 metres or so-an easier task in woodland or cities than on plains. ATGMs are really ambush weapons, says Amael Kotlarski, the editor of Janes Infantry Weapons. In the Syrian civil war, for instance, rebels destroyed over 3,000 of Syria’s mostly Soviet fleet of armoured vehicles using wire-guided ATGMs largely supplied by Arab states. Either way, the point is to strike where the armour is thinnest.Īll of this makes them fearsome weapons. ![]() ![]() The Javelin arcs into the sky and plunges down the NLAW flies a metre or so above the tank with a warhead pointing down (see diagram). Just as important is that many are “top-attack” weapons. “Fire-and-forget” missiles, like the NLAW and Javelin, have a small sensor in the nose-like a camera or thermal imager-that can spot a tank.
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