hc1@bale.cis.ufl.edu (Harry Campbell) (06/15/91)
From: hc1@bale.cis.ufl.edu (Harry Campbell) The Dragon ATGM is in fact the primary medium anti-tank missile for the U. S. infantry. You'll find at least one in every platoon, probably two. The Dragon has a 1000m range, and can penetrate around 500mm of steel plate. It fills the gap between the TOW and the LAW. The Dragon is man-portable, and night capable (though I don't believe they have Thermal Imaging). The TOW is designated as a heavy ATGM. To my knowledge it is only deployed as a vehicle mount, not man-portable. TOW II has a range of 3750m and can penetrate over 900mm of steel plate (Ivan's shaking in is boots). As far as generation of ATGM's go, I'll do some research and get back to you with specifics. Red Pheonix, by Larry Bond is an excellent book (though he could have detailed the fighting a little more, and the romance a little less for my tastes) and I second the recomendation.
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/19/91)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: hc1@bale.cis.ufl.edu (Harry Campbell) >The Dragon ATGM is in fact the primary medium anti-tank missile for the >U. S. infantry... has a 1000m range... Note that this makes it the only major infantry ATGM in service today with an effective range *less* than the effective range of a typical machinegun. This can make things very interesting for the Dragon controller when the opposition follows the standard "on seeing a missile launch, spray the launch area with gunfire to ruin their aim" tactic. Apparently Dragon is, uh, not well thought of among its users. -- "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry