Tank

: This article is about armoured fighting vehicles. For other meanings, see Tank (disambiguation).

Vulnerability

Whilst being a tremendously powerful weapon and the undoubted king of the land battlefield, the tank is not invulnerable. In fact it is the tank's superiority which has focussed so much effort on improving antitank weapons.

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Infantry

The tank is still vulnerable to infantry, especially in close country or built up areas. The armour and mobility of tanks, while usually notable assets, also makes them large and noisy. This can give enemy infantry the initiative, allowing them to spot, track and evade tanks until an opportunity presents itself for a stealthy counter-attack. This is why modern tactics insist on tanks being closely supported by friendly infantry.

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For veteran troops, it is relatively easy for an infantry man to get close to a tank, especially if it is fully closed down (that is, the commander is fully inside the turret) as tanks have very poor visibility close in and especially to the sides and rear, unless the turret is pointing in that direction. If the crew commander is not closed down, that is, has exposed his head and perhaps upper body for the better view it affords him, then he can of course be shot.

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In theory, it is easy for an infantry man to lie prone, wait behind a tree or other handy cover or inside a building and to quickly dash out as a tank passes. However, the tank is a fearsome war machine; it takes confidence, discipline and training to carry this out.

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Once an infantry man is close to a tank he is invulnerable unless the crew expose themselves to attack him as the main gun and coaxial machine gun can not depress sufficiently to engage the close in infantry man. Where tanks are operating in groups this is less of a problem, since they can call on nearby tanks to fire on themselves with machine guns and other light weapons which are unlikely to damage a tank but which will drive off infantry.

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Whilst many handheld infantry antitank rockets, missiles and grenades will not penetrate the front armour of a tank, they will generally speaking penetrate the weaker, rear, top and perhaps sides, as well as being able to easily damage the running gear to inflict an "M" (mobility) kill. Tanks are also vulnerable to hand placed antitank mines.

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In addition in built up areas the tank is very vulnerable to attack from above – the roof and floor of the tank being traditionally the thinnest and weakest armoured surfaces.

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Artillery

Traditionally artillery has not been very effective against tanks as the tank's armour could withstand any artillery round except a direct hit.

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In the last thirty years however, a variety of artillery projectiles have been developed with attacking tanks in mind.

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These include laser guided projectiles, such as the US Copperhead CLGP (Cannon Launched Guided Projectile) which virtually guarantee a direct hit on the thin top armour. In addition some of these CLGP's such as the Copperhead have HEAT warheads instead of common HE.

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In addition to achieving a direct hit with guided projectiles, guided and unguided scatter munitions and submunitions have been developed. This a single artillery shell that contains a number of smaller munitions designed to attack a tank. At its simplest the shell bursts in the air and a number of shaped charged (HEAT) or HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) bomblets or grenades rain down, with luck hitting the tank. If they do hit they will likely cause damage, despite their small size, since they are attacking the thin top armour.

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A variation on this theme is replacing the top attack munitions with small antitank mines, which probably won't penetrate the armour but will blow off a track, leaving the tank vulnerable for destruction by other means.

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A six-gun battery might be able to fire several hundred submunitions into an area in a minute or two.

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More sophisticated are sub munitions with a homing capability. Once again the shell explodes above the tank position and dispenses a (usually smaller) number of sub-munitions. The munitions contain some circuitry to identify tanks, such as IR or millimetre radar. In order to allow the munition time to use its sensor the munition will often be deployed under a parachute. When a tank is identified a rocket is fired to direct the projectile at the tank.

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All of the above bar the CLGP can be fired from medium (152/155-mm) artillery, both tube and rocket.

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There has also been development of large calibre (81-mm and larger) guided mortar munitions with both internal (e.g., IR or radar) or external (i.e. laser designator) for attacking tanks.

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Helicopters

The single biggest threat to the tank today is the antitank helicopter armed with ATGWs (Anti-Tank Guided Weapons) or cannon. The helicopter can typically fire from behind cover, use its greater mobility to attack from an unexpected quarter.

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In addition most helicopter launched ATGWs have sufficient range that they can under the right conditions fire from ranges where the tank itself can not easily retaliate with its own weapons (though it is believed that some countries are developing anti helicopter weapons that can be fired from a main gun and some tank gunnery systems are probably capable of hitting a hovering or slow moving helicopter at considerable range)

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In addition even the light cannon of the helicopter gunship can be effective as they can attack the thin top armour of the tank.

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Mines

The tank is still vulnerable to mines. Mines have the advantage of attacking the thinnest armour of the tank and can be well concealed.

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In addition with modern scatterable mines, and in particular artillery scatterable mines, it is actually possible to lay a mine field around a moving tank formation.

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As well as the traditional bottom attack mine, the scatter mine, the artillery delivered mine, or air delivered mine, there are also a number of side attack or "off route" mines available. These are mines that can be mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall, or tree, or mounted on a stand and are intended to be aimed at a road, track to other point a tank is likely to pass. Choke points such as bridges, fords, gates, underpasses, etc. are all likely spots. When the tank passes they fire into the side of the tank. The two common warheads for these mines are the ubiquitous HEAT and less commonly a platter charge. These mines can be fired by a human operator, simple mechanical actuator such as a tripwire or pressure plate, or by more sophisticated systems, such as seismic, IR or other electronic fusing systems. Some of the fusing systems are sophisticated enough to be able to discriminate between different classes of target and only attack specified classes of vehicles, e.g., ignore wheeled vehicles. Obviously a well placed off route mine will attempt to attack the rear or at worst the side of the tank, if at all possible. Some infantry antitank weapons can also be configured to act as off-route mines.

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Aircraft

Many aircraft, including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, have been built spesifically built for CAS, which in many cases include destroying tanks

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