ATGM availability

[narwan]

For cold war years don't forget that the armies weren't general all-purpose but often tailored to a specific task. Take the dutch for example; they'd be defending the area south of Hamburg against an expected onslaught of WP armor. The make up of dutch formations was heavily geared towards defensive operations against large numbers of AFV's. In the 80's a typical dutch mech infantry battallion had a huge amount of AT capacity: usually 2 dragon ATGM's per platoon or 18 per battallion and from 12 to 16 TOW-SPATGM's per battallion. Add to that law's and carl-gustav's on squad level and IFV's with chainguns to take on light armor and you have a very big AT capacity for just 3 mech companies.
But as they were the main defenders of one of the primairy WP attack routes they were organised for just that purpose.

Btw, the dutch TOW-SPATGM is one of my favorite units; not in the game unfortunately as it's special ability is hard to translate into the game. It's launch installation could be elevated into the air up to such a height it could fire over walls, trees, buildings and other obstacles. That way it could fire without exposing the vehicle itself but due to the height it would fire from still have a great field of view and make optimal use of the high range of the TOW.

[thatguy96]

Originally Posted by narwan

Btw, the dutch TOW-SPATGM is one of my favorite units; not in the game unfortunately as it's special ability is hard to translate into the game. It's launch installation could be elevated into the air up to such a height it could fire over walls, trees, buildings and other obstacles. That way it could fire without exposing the vehicle itself but due to the height it would fire from still have a great field of view and make optimal use of the high range of the TOW.

Yes, this launcher (often referred to as the "Hammerhead" and I'm sure I have a designation lying around somewhere) was used on the US M901 first I believe. It was also used on the Marine's LAV-ATs, and a variant without the missile hardware was used for the same reasons, but in a purely observational role on the M981 FIST-V. It got passed along to the Dutch YPR-series and I believe others as well. The unit on the Stryker AT vehicle I believe is closer to the unit used on the Norweigan NM142, which does not have the variable height function of the unit in question. I believe it was produced by Emerson Electric, but I could be completely wrong about that. It really is too bad there's no way to represent this functionality in game.

[PlasmaKrab]

Originally Posted by thatguy96

Yes, this launcher (often referred to as the "Hammerhead" and I'm sure I have a designation lying around somewhere) was used on the US M901 first I believe. It was also used on the Marine's LAV-ATs, and a variant without the missile hardware was used for the same reasons, but in a purely observational role on the M981 FIST-V. It got passed along to the Dutch YPR-series and I believe others as well. The unit on the Stryker AT vehicle I believe is closer to the unit used on the Norweigan NM142, which does not have the variable height function of the unit in question. I believe it was produced by Emerson Electric, but I could be completely wrong about that. It really is too bad there's no way to represent this functionality in game.

According to GlobalSecurity, the ATGM turret on the Stryker is made by GDLS. The one on the NM-142 (named ALT) is from Kvaerner Eureka (Norway) and is also used on the Canadian LAV-III TUA (hence the confusion?). Canada also uses this turret on an M-113/MTVL hull, not sure if this is still in service or was replaced by the LAV version. For information, the Stryker ATGM turret is entirely remote-controlled (hence the thin base) while the NM-142 turret is manned.
Apparently the Emerson TUA is the "Hammerhead" actually mounted on the M-901.

Not that it adds anything to the debate

[thatguy96]

Originally Posted by PlasmaKrab

According to GlobalSecurity, the ATGM turret on the Stryker is made by GDLS. The one on the NM-142 (named ALT) is from Kvaerner Eureka (Norway) and is also used on the Canadian LAV-III TUA (hence the confusion?). Canada also uses this turret on an M-113/MTVL hull, not sure if this is still in service or was replaced by the LAV version. For information, the Stryker ATGM turret is entirely remote-controlled (hence the thin base) while the NM-142 turret is manned.
Apparently the Emerson TUA is the "Hammerhead" actually mounted on the M-901.

Yeah, I completely blew it on the Stryker turret. I didn't remember that it had both tubes on one side. Totally different setup. I did remember the Emerson bit hehe, so I'm not totally off on my trivial military knowledge.