Top-attack

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A top attack weapon is designed to attack armored vehicles from above, to take advantage of the fact that the armour is usually thinnest on the top of an armoured vehicle. The device may be delivered as a smart submunition or a primary munition by an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), mortar bomb, artillery shell, or even an emplaced munition such as a mine. Top attack munitions use either a shaped charge warhead (often now tandem warheads in order to defeat ERA), or an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead fired while over the target (usually by submunition).

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The top attack concept was first put into service by the Swedish Armed Forces in 1988 with the Bofors RBS 56 BILL top-attack anti-tank missile. [1]

Ukrainian army soldiers fire the NLAW in training. UA soldiers NLAW training 03.jpg
Ukrainian army soldiers fire the NLAW in training.

Another method of top attack is the overfly top-attack (OTA or OFTA) where a missile with a vertically oriented shaped charge jet that fires downwards. A missile is directed to overfly the vehicle where a sensor detects the vehicle, and detonates the shape charge down into the top of the vehicle. This is system employed with the NLAW man-portable ATGM.

Weapon systems using top attack

An Australian Army soldier carrying two FGM-148 Javelins at the Besmaya Range Complex in Iraq, October 2016 An Australian soldier carrying two Javelin missiles to a firing point at the Besmaya Range Complex, Iraq, in October 2016.jpg
An Australian Army soldier carrying two FGM-148 Javelins at the Besmaya Range Complex in Iraq, October 2016
An M41 tripod-mounted TOW ITAS-FTL with PADS (a variant of the BGM-71 TOW) of the U.S. Army in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, May 2009 Hires 090509-A-4842R-001a.jpg
An M41 tripod-mounted TOW ITAS-FTL with PADS (a variant of the BGM-71 TOW) of the U.S. Army in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, May 2009
The firing phase of a SMArt 155 submunition. The submunition is held aloft by a parachute, while the submunition seeks a target and fires Smart155 phase6.svg
The firing phase of a SMArt 155 submunition. The submunition is held aloft by a parachute, while the submunition seeks a target and fires

Notable weapon systems that utilize top attack include:

Weapon systemTypeCountry of origin
AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground ATGM Flag of the United States.svg  United States
AT-1K Raybolt man-portable ATGM Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
BGM-71F/TOW-2B ATGM Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bofors/Nexter Bonus artillery shell submunitionFlag of Sweden.svg  Sweden /

Flag of France.svg  France

BLU-108 aerial bomb Flag of the United States.svg  United States
CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon aerial Cluster bomb Flag of the United States.svg  United States
FGM-148 Javelin man-portable ATGM Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Griffin LGB Laser-guided bomb (kit)Flag of Israel.svg  Israel
HJ-12 man-portable ATGM Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Kitolov-2M Mortar & Artillery Flag of Russia.svg Russian Federation
KM-8 Gran mortar Flag of Russia.svg Russian Federation
Krasnopol artillery Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union /

Flag of Russia.svg Russian Federation

KSTAM gun-launched guided projectile Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
LAHAT semi-active laser ATGM Flag of Israel.svg  Israel
M93 Hornet mine anti-vehicle wide-area mine Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Mokopa air-to-ground ATGM Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
MPATGM man-portable ATGM Flag of India.svg India
Nag ATGM Flag of India.svg India
NLAW overfly top-attack ATGM Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden /

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom

OMTAS man-portable ATGM Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey
PARS 3 LR air-to-ground ATGM Flag of Germany.svg  Germany /

Flag of France.svg  France

RBS 56 BILL / RBS 56B BILL 2 man-portable ATGM Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
SADARM submunitionFlag of the United States.svg  United States
SMArt 155 artillery shell submunitionFlag of Germany.svg  Germany
Spike ATGM Flag of Israel.svg  Israel
Strix mortar round guided mortar bombFlag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Toophan 3M [i] SACLOS ATGMFlag of Iran.svg Iran
Type 01 LMAT man-portable ATGM Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition guided mortar bombFlag of the United States.svg  United States
  1. The Toophan is a reverse engineered clone of the BGM-71 TOW

See also

References

  1. "RBS 56 BILL". robotmuseum.se (in Swedish). Retrieved February 26, 2022.