CHAPTER 5 – WHO WANTS TO KILL THE MBT? EVERYBODY!
A Ukrainian infantry squad armed with various portable anti-tank weapons.
Since its apparition on the battlefields of the First World War, the tank faced in the three decades that followed two main adversaries: artillery guns, either of the general field type or of the specialized anti-tank models, and other tanks armed with guns. Added to those two main rivals was the anti-tank landmine, a simple and inexpensive weapon that could be used anywhere and which proved effective in both blocking or diverting the advance of tanks. In WW2, huge battles opposed fleets of hundreds of tanks, with tank guns and anti-tank guns, either towed or self-propelled, causing much of the mayhem. In the deserts of North Africa, the anti-tank landmine emerged as an important weapon against tanks, but their effect proved indiscriminate, as minefields were equally dangerous to both sides. Then, midway during WW2, a new anti-tank weapon appeared: the man-portable anti-tank rocket launcher, exemplified by the American ‘Bazooka’ and the German PANZERFAUST and PANZERSCHRECK.
However, those new weapons, while at last giving infantrymen a way to destroy enemy tanks attacking them, proved to have only very short effective ranges and also had an important signature due to their backblast. They used shaped charge warheads to damage or destroy tanks, thus needed large diameter warheads to be effective against heavy armor. The American M1 2.36-inch ‘Bazooka’ quickly proved useless against German heavy tanks due to its small caliber, so larger caliber weapons were developed. After the end of WW2, many countries went into the development and production of a wide variety of man-portable anti-tank rockets and anti-tank missiles. The wide proliferation of such weapons, particularly of anti-tank guided missiles, had pundits predict some thirty years later that the main battle tank had been rendered obsolete. However, their predictions eventually proved to be incorrect, as newer main battle tanks became better protected and added new protective measures, like spaced armor, composite armor and explosive reactive armor (ERA). Also, the first generation of anti-tank guided missiles were heavy, cumbersome and demanded lots of training for its shooters to be accurate. However, much progress has been made in developing truly portable, effective and easy to use anti-tank weapons, something that is being demonstrated in the war in Ukraine. Here are thus the weapons most feared by tanks today.
HIGH-VELOCITY TANK GUNS
The high-velocity main guns on modern main battle tanks, shooting armor-piercing long-rod penetrators, are still quite effective against modern tank armor and are much less affected by ERA armor than shaped charge warheads, on top of being effective as well against highly sloped armor plates. Modern MBT guns now range in caliber between 105mm, 120mm and 125mm, with projects for guns of up to 130mm or even 140mm. However, those tank guns are bulky, heavy and quite long and generate a powerful recoil, on top of producing a muzzle blast that temporarily creates a thick cloud of dust and flames which obscures the sights of the tank gunner for a few seconds, impeding accurate rapid fire. Some tank guns, mostly Russian 125mm models, can fire anti-tank guided missiles through the gun tube.
ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILES
The biggest nemesis to modern main battle tanks is the latest generation of man-portable anti-tank guided missiles, like the American JAVELIN, Russian KORNET, European NLAW and Israeli SPIKE. These systems can defeat the armor of nearly all existing MBTs, or at least cause severe damage to them. They are also very accurate, easy to use and have ranges which can attain 2.5 kilometers or more in the heavier systems. Presently in Ukraine, the American JAVELIN and British-Swedish NLAW are the favored weapons of the Ukrainian Army and have been decimating Russian tank columns from the start of the invasion.
JAVELIN NLAW
MAN-PORTABLE ANTI-TANK ROCKETS
Man-portable anti-tank rocket systems are another class of anti-tank weapons which has made big progress during the last few decades in terms of lethality, increased effective range and ease of carry and operation. While they have shorter effective ranges than portable guided missiles, they are much cheaper to acquire, demand much less maintenance and care and can all be carried and fired by one man. The more recent models, like the German PANZERFAUST 3, which is heavily used by the Ukrainian Army, can pierce as much armor as most anti-tank guided missiles, with up to 900mm of steel armor pierced. The PANZERFAUST 3 also has the benefit of being able to be fired from within enclosed spaces, which makes it an ideal ambush weapon in urban fighting. Another weapon widely used in the war in Ukraine is the venerable and ubiquitous Soviet-made RPG-7V, which entered service in 1958 but whose ammunition has been constantly improved to augment its effective range and armor penetration. Among its latest models of rockets, the PG-7VR has an effective range against moving targets of 200 meters and has a tandem shaped charge warhead able to penetrate 600mm of steel, and this after passing through ERA reactive armor bricks.
PANZERFAUST 3 RPG-7V with PG-7VR tandem warhead rocket
FROM THE AIR: ATTACK HELICOPTERS, AIRCRAFT AND ARMED DRONES
Another deadly opponent of the main battle tank is the attack helicopter, armed with anti-tank guided missiles like the American HELLFIRE, able to decimate tank columns from distances of up to eight kilometers. Attack aircraft can also fire guided air-to-ground missiles which are lethal to main battle tanks, while a relatively recent trend is the use of remotely-piloted drones armed with anti-tank guided missiles, like the Turkish-built BAYRAKTAR TB2 drone armed with anti-tank missiles, which is presently used by the Ukrainians against invading Russian forces.
LONG-RANGE GUIDED MUNITIONS
As if this was not enough, some field artillery guns and howitzers can fire special guided shells, like the American M712 CLGP COPPERHEAD of 155mm caliber, in indirect fire mode, with a forward artillery observer then guiding the missile by ‘painting’ a target, like a tank or a bunker, with a laser designator unit. In the case of the COPPERHEAD, it can strike its target with pinpoint precision at ranges of up to sixteen kilometers and destroy the best protected tanks known.
155mm COPPERHEAD guided shell diving on a tank. Impact of the COPPERHEAD shell on a tank.
THE GOOD OLD MINE AND THE IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE (IED)
While having been in use in war since the start of WW2, the anti-tank mine, now made out of plastic materials which can’t be located by magnetic mine detectors, is still an effective anti-tank weapon, although it is an indiscriminate one that can blow up either enemy or friendly tanks or even civilian vehicles, depending on who is unfortunate enough to roll over it first. Modern anti-tank mines pack enough explosive power to either destroy or severely damage any tank and will also knock out the crew. Even after more than 76 years, old mines sown in WW2 around the deserts of North Africa still kill civilians unlucky enough to drive over them. Another weapon, widely used in recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, is the improvised explosive device, or IED in short. The IED has the virtue of being remotely-detonated, either by wire or by radio, and can be fabricated out of about any explosive, old shell or bomb one could find and fit with a detonating wire or a radio remote control device. While crude, IEDs have proved most deadly and difficult to detect if well sited and camouflaged.
Dug out old anti-tank land mines Israeli MAGACH 7 tank destroyed by IED in Lebanon
URBAN COMBAT: A HELLISH ENVIRONMENT FOR MBTs
Most tank crews will tell you that fighting inside cities and villages is not something they enjoy, for many good reasons. First, direct lines of fire are severely limited, unless you happen to fire down a large boulevard or avenue, thus modern tanks lose most of the benefits brought by their sophisticated gun fire control systems. Second, the enemy infantry is given some golden opportunities to approach your tank undetected and with impunity from a variety of angles, unless you have some friendly infantry around to protect you at short ranges. Third, enemy soldiers can take position in the upper floors of buildings or even on the roofs, thus gaining positions giving them an overview of your tank and easy shots at your tank’s roof, one of the least armored parts of any tank. Even an old grandmother armed with Molotov cocktails can sit on her balcony and throw incendiary bottles at you. Fourth, the streets can be easily blocked off by barricades and anti-tank obstacles like large concrete blocks, mines, IEDs, steel Czech Hedgehogs and anti-tank ditches dug into the pavement. The enemy can thus easily channel your tank into a killing zone by judiciously blocking a few well-chosen streets. Tanks that have to engage in urban fighting thus need to be closely accompanied by friendly infantry in order to prevent the enemy infantry from approaching your tanks undetected. Even when your force has overwhelming numerical and firepower superiority, a resolute and well-trained enemy infantry fighting from inside its own towns and villages can cause you endless headaches, along with some pretty painful losses, while minimizing their own casualties by using the cover of houses, high-rise buildings and underground tunnel networks.