Quote:
Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK
WP is white phosphorous, correct?
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Yes it is. It is used for TWO reasons. First, it visually obscures the tank from the gunner. Second, it is VERY hot, which obscures BOTH Thermal and Active/Passive IR Sights (IR Sights can also be obscured by normal HC smoke as well). The WP ALSO blocks the IR Trackers that virtually ALL SACLOS missile launchers use to give guidance commands to the missile. Once a missile passes through a WP smoke cloud (or a Dual Spectrum* HC smoke cloud, or the Shorta's ATGM Defense System's aerosol mist), the IR Tracker on the CLU (command, launch unit) can no longer see either the missile's IR tail flare OR the target... making flight corrections IMPOSSIBLE for the computer. The missile WILL begin to deviate without those flight corrections.
Laser-Guided Missiles like the Copperhead, HellFire, and Soviet Tank-launched AT missiles ride an IR laser to the target AND these are ALSO BLOCKED by WP, Dual Spectrum* Smoke, and the Shorta aerosol system. The missile will not be able to see the laser beam once it enters the cloud and will "nose-dive" after about 2-3 seconds to prevent "collateral damage" from an "uncontrolled missile."
Ironically, MCLOS Missiles (which are flown to the target by the operator) such as early versions of the Swingfire, the Soviet AT-2 swatter, and the French SS10 & SS11 are much less affected by smoke (because the operator can "guestimate" the target's location) and are completely unaffected by the Shorta's aerosol (because it's transparent to allow Soviet tankers to shoot through it). However, these are only found in the "Third World" by the mid 90's.
*Dual Spectrum smoke is a type of smoke grenade that produces both an IR and visible smoke cloud to obscure a target. It was in common production from about 1995 until this very day.