Tank destroyer: Difference between revisions

{{Redirect|Gun motor carriage||Self-propelled artillery}}

{{More citations needed|date=March 2009}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}

{{History of the tank|state=uncollapsed}}

== World War II ==

Dedicated anti-tank vehicles made their first major appearance in the Second World War as combatants developed effective armoured vehicles and tactics. Some were little more than stopgap solutions, mounting an [[anti-tank gun]] on a tracked vehicle to give mobility, while others were more sophisticated designs. An example of the development of tank destroyer technology throughout the war is the [[Marder III]] and [[Hetzer|Jagdpanzer 38]] vehicles, which were very different in spite of being based on the same chassis: Marder was straightforwardly an anti-tank gun on tracks, whereas the Jagdpanzer 38 traded some firepower (its [[7.5 cm PaK 39|7.5 cm Pak 39]], designed to operate within the confines of a fully armoured fighting compartment, fires the same projectiles from a reduced propellant charge compared to Marder's [[7.5 cm Pak 40]]) for better armour protection and ease of concealment on the battlefield.

=== Soviet Union ===

{{Main|Samokhodnaya Ustanovka}}

== Subsequent developments ==

[[File:NM142 x 3.jpg|thumb|A Norwegian anti-tank platoon equipped with [[NM142]] TOW missile launchers]]

In the face of the [[Warsaw Pact]], a general need for extra firepower was identified. In the late 1960s, West Germany developed the [[Kanonenjagdpanzer]], essentially a modernized World War II Jagdpanzer mounting a {{nowrap|90 mm}} gun. As Soviet designs became more heavily armoured, the {{nowrap|90 mm}} gun became ineffective and the Kanonenjagdpanzers were retrofitted for different roles or retired. Some provisions were made for the fitting of a 105 mm cannon, and many vehicles were modified to fire [[Euromissile HOT|HOT]] or [[TOW missile]]s in place of a main gun. These upgraded variants remained in service into the 1990s.<ref>Gelbart 1996 p137-8</ref>

Many forces' [[infantry fighting vehicle]]s (IFVs) carry [[anti-tank missile]]s in every infantry platoon, and [[attack helicopter]]s have also added anti-tank capability to the modern battlefield. But there are still dedicated anti-tank vehicles with very heavy long-range missiles, and ones intended for [[Airborne forces|airborne]] use.

A [[United States Army|US Army]] combined arms battalion has two infantry companies with TOW missile-armed [[M2 Bradley|Bradley IFVs]] and can bring a large concentration of accurate and lethal fire to bear on an attacking enemy unit that uses AFVs. They can be complemented by mobile units of AH-64 Apache helicopters armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

[[File:Senegalese PTL-02 tank destroyer near the Gambian border, c. 2017.png|thumb|Chinese-built PTL-02 tank destroyer armed with a {{convert|100|mm|in|sp=us}} cannon, being used by the Senegalese military near the Gambian border in 2017.]]

Despite the proliferation of ATGMs, some gun-armed tank destroyers remain in use. China has developed the tracked [[Type 89 (Tank Destroyer)|PTZ89]] and the wheeled [[PTL02]] tank destroyers. The PTZ89 is armed with a {{nowrap|120 mm}} smoothbore cannon while the PTL02, developed by NORINCO for the PLA's new light (rapid reaction) mechanized infantry divisions, carries a {{convert|100|mm|in|sp=us}} one (a version armed with a 105 mm rifled gun is available for export). The PTL02 is built on the 6×6 wheeled chassis of the [[WZ551]] APC.