In spite of the efforts to reach an agreement over anti-tank missiles, in the early summer of 1961, the Chief of Ordnance asked BRL to deliver a formal definition for what was then known as the "Heavy Assault Weapon for the Long Range Time Period", or HAW for short. Both the US and Canadian Army agreed to purchase Swingfire for the long-range role.
#Missile command 2 free#
The US agreed to not introduce a system that competed directly with Swingfire or Vigilant without prior consultation but was free to develop new unguided "assault weapons" to replace the LAW. Rubel led to the July 1961 Rubel-Zuckerman agreement, wherein the UK would continue development of the long-range Swingfire while the US concentrated on shorter-range missiles, up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), with new guidance systems. Meetings between Solly Zuckerman and John H. Having approved Swingfire to some degree based on the possibility of foreign sales, the emergence of a possible US competitor was a concern. It was at some point during this early development that the British became aware of the US developments. The group almost immediately decided not to attempt to define a weapon concept, and instead spend the next two years studying the problem while researching the possibility of using alternative guidance systems and continually watching foreign developments where the US was lagging. The team included members from Picatinny Arsenal, Frankford Arsenal, Redstone Arsenal, Watervliet Arsenal, Detroit Arsenal and Harry Diamond Laboratories. In the fall of 1958, the Army's Office of Ordnance Research and Development formed the Ad Hoc Working Group at the Ballistic Research Laboratories (BRL) to define a future replacement for the SS.10 and 11.
#Missile command 2 portable#
The goal was to allow the launcher to remain completely undercover while a gunner took a portable sight forward to aim at the targets from a concealed location.
A new design emerged, combining the guidance system of the small Vickers Vigilant with a new and highly maneuverable missile to produce Swingfire.
But the link was found not to work in smoke or dust, making it largely useless on the battlefield. This system used a computer to calculate the impact point, sending commands to the missile using an infrared link. The tracking system, similar to the SS.11, proved difficult to use and a new project started under the codename Orange William. ĭuring the same period, the British Army had been developing its own heavyweight long-range weapon with Australia, the Malkara, with a range of about 4,000 yards (3,700 m). In the summer of 1958, the development of the Dart was cancelled in favour of purchasing the two French designs. While the development of the Dart continued, Nord delivered a workable version of the SS.10, as well as the extended-range SS.11. The Army then instructed the Redstone Arsenal to develop its own version of the basic concept, which emerged as the SSM-A-23 Dart, a larger design with roughly twice the range of the SS.10. Evaluations by the US Army in 1953 concluded it was not ready for operation, but that its progress should be tracked. Development started in 1948, with the first rounds fired in 1952. In France, Nord Aviation's Jean Bastien-Thiry developed an updated version of the X-7 using a solid fuel rocket as the very small and highly portable SS.10. In the immediate post-war era, the design was picked up by development teams in France and Australia. X-7 was never fully developed before the war ended. This would greatly improve the effectiveness of infantry anti-tank operations, which at that time were generally based on smaller weapons like the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck, limited in the best case to ranges on the order of 150 metres (490 ft). Originally developed for the Luftwaffe as an anti-bomber weapon, by changing the warhead to one using a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) design, the new X-7 version made an effective anti-armor weapon with a range of hundreds of metres. Late in World War II, the German Army began experimenting with modified versions of the Ruhrstahl X-4 wire-guided missile. Originally designed by Hughes Aircraft in the 1960s, the weapon is currently produced by Raytheon. It can be found in a wide variety of manually carried and vehicle-mounted forms, as well as widespread use on helicopters. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more powerful warhead, and a greatly improved semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) that could also be equipped with infrared cameras for night time use.įirst produced in 1970, TOW is one of the most widely used anti-tank guided missiles. The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided", pronounced / ˈ t oʊ/) is an American anti-tank missile. Optically tracked, wire-guided ( wireless radio-guided in RF variants)
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