ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of armored warfare and assesses where anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) fit in the general scheme of things and what effect they may have. The tank was invented by the British during World War I in an attempt to break the trench warfare stalemate that had been brought about by the effectiveness of the machine gun and the artillery. The ATGM takes advantage of the new guidance technology for accuracy and of the new propulsion technology to project a shaped-charge warhead larger than can be fired from most tank guns or anti-tank artillery. A tank can be immobilized or seriously damaged by mines, which, depending on their size, may blow off treads, punch a hole in the bottom, or even turn a tank over. Perhaps the main work of defeating tanks is done by direct-fire anti-tank weapons of various kinds.
