Man-portable anti-tank systems
Man-portable anti-tank systems (MANPATS or MPATS) are traditionally portable shoulder-launched projectile systems firing heavy shell-type projectiles (although throwing and lunge weapons have existed), typically designed to combat protected targets, such as armoured vehicles, field fortifications and at times even low-flying aircraft (especially helicopters).
Upper right: AT4 single-use disposable anti-tank launcher.
Lower left: Solothurn S-18/100 semi-automatic anti-tank rifle.
Lower right: 9M133 Kornet semi-disposable anti-tank missile system.
MPATS-launchers can be either unguided or guided weapons and generally fall into three distinct categories:
- Disposable systems, consisting of a small pre-loaded, single-shot launch tube meant to be disposed after firing, operated by one soldier. Examples include: Panzerfaust 1, M72 LAW, Miniman, AT4, FGM-148 Javelin, NLAW, etc.
- Reusable systems, consisting of a reloadable firing system onto/into which a rocket or cartridge is loaded, operated by one or two soldiers. Examples include: Bazooka, Panzerschreck, Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle, RPG-7, Panzerfaust 2, etc.
- Semi-disposable systems, where the launcher is manufactured pre-loaded and issued as a single unit of ammunition meant to be launched from a reusable firing and sighting device and discarded after one use. Examples include, Bofors Bantam, BGM-71 TOW, 9M113 Konkurs, Panzerfaust 3, 9M133 Kornet, etc.
Portable anti-tank systems initially appeared in the form of heavy rifles – so called anti-tank rifles – during the First World War and interwar period. These soon got replaced with recoilless systems with the application of the shaped charge explosive projectiles during the Second World War. The development of practical rocketry and recoilless cartridges occasioned by World War II provided a means of delivering such an explosive from a shoulder-launched weapon, leading to a new type of weapon family which combined portability with effectiveness against armoured vehicles, fortifications, and buildings. Famous early examples includes the American Bazooka-family of reloadable rocket launchers, the German Panzerfaust single-shot disposable anti-tank launcher and the post war Swedish Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle. The war also saw the use of a variety of unconventional MPAT-systems, such as the German Hafthohlladung magnet mine, the Japanese Shitotsubakurai lunge mine, the British sticky bomb hand grenade and PIAT direct fire spigot mortar.