Anti-Tank tactics!

[Rimmerdal]

http://www.yojoe.com/action/89/heatviper.shtml

After looking at this dude..I thought we talked about how tanks kick tail...Now how does the little guy on the ground take them down?

[Jefffar]

1. Get real close.
2. Go unnoticed.
3. Hit them in a weak spot with a powerful weapon.
4. Pray the spot was weak enough.


Same principles that infantry would use agaisnt Robots, except the weak spot is likely to be weaker and there are likely to be more of them.

There is no invulnerable / invincible weapon system. There are weapon systems that are superior and can generally be expected to defeat the other system with a certain reliability.

Good tactics can compensate for using an inferior weapon, but your best bet is good tactics and superior weapons.

[R Ditto]

First, little guy gets a pal or two to form a 2-3 man team.
Second, get a man portable version of an anti-tank missile system used on vehicles, mainly the TOW missile, used on helicopters and ground vehicles such as some Hummers and the M2 Bradley.
Third, set it up near someplace you know the enemy tanks will be passing by.
Fourth, you wait... maybe for a while... when you spot the tank...
Fifth, you line up and then fire the missile and guide it to target. Since it is wire guided, there is no laser beam that someone could spot if there was anything like smoke, mist, fog or some sort of optic system that sees IR. Only real warning sign is the big 'flare' on its rear that the weapon operator uses to keep track of the missile visually while guiding it
Sixth, you watch as the missile hopefully drives the large shaped charge into the tank's side.
Seventh, you hope any other tanks are caught off guard enough that the team is able to load and fire another missile, or enough the team is able to grab the launcher system and run for it.

Or you just bury an anti-tank mine or a lot of explosives under the ground and use a remote trigger. Use a weed or rock as a marker, then sit back and watch. When a tank is over said weed or rock, hit trigger, watching fireworks.

[Ice Dragon]

1) Use flanking maneuvers (shoot the tank from side not head-on).
2) Use the best terrain for you and the worst for the tank
3) Use obstacles to stop or slow down the tank
4) Use a bottle neck terrain as your position
5) Use artillery (need forward observers)
6) Never forget, that tanks are accompanied by infantry, therefore you also need infantry protection.
7) Fire no more than 3 shoots, than select a new firing position.

[jedi078]

R Ditto, very rarely does ant-tank unit operate a man portable TOW system, as it is really heavy and (I think) it is the same TOW system mounted on the Humvee. The man portable systems are the Javelin and Dragoon. I don’t think a SMAW will not kill a tank but will do something else (see below).

Let's not forget calling in Close Air Support (CAS) (I use to drive/command an AAVC7A1, whose sole purpose in life was to call in arty and CAS) preferable from attack helicopters and CAS dedicated aircraft (A-10, SU-25, AV-8B) but even a 20mm Vulcan cannon will rip through the top of a tank turret.

Go for "Mobility Kills". A “Mobility Kill” is taking out the treads of the tank. If the treads are busted the crew has to get out and fix it (they won’t under infantry fire) before the tank can move again. Tank is now a pill box, albeit a very dangerous pill box though.

An example of how to accomplish a “mobility kill” is what they did in the end of “Saving Private Ryan” with the infamous sticky bombs. I am not 100% percent sure but a 50 cal or MK 19 can blow the tread off of a tank. A SMAW will work too.

Also if you see fuel tanks on the back of the tank hope they still have fuel and shot them, if they catch on fire the crew may cook.

If the crew is not “buttoned up” (hatches closed and secure) aim for them! If you hit the driver and the tank is a bridge………...well this happened to a USMC tank crew in Iraq. The tank drove off the bride (I think the driver got sniped/shoot) and ended up on the bottom of the river upside down. The tank was recovered, and the crew drowned.