An Evaluation of Remotely Piloted Vehicles in the Antiarmor Role

Résumé du livre

There exists a need in the United States Army for a weapons system that is capable of engaging armored vehicles at ranges far exceeding the range of the main armament of the tank. This need is currently being filled by the TV guided bomb and the helicopter mounted TOW missile. However, both of these systems suffer from the drawbacks of high cost and high vulnerability to antiaircraft artillery and missiles. The Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) is a new weapons concept that is examined and compared with the two existing systems. The RPV is found to be far less expensive and much less vulnerable to antiaircraft fire but suffers some possible problems in an electronic countermeasures environment. Some possible solutions to this ECM problem are offered which promise to make the RPV a superior antitank weapon when used as a laser designator for a terminally guided, laser homing weapon.