Cold War Warsaw Pact Vehicle crossposts.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Generally you brass up the launch area in the hope of putting off the firer who may still be guiding the missile. Much better chance of success than shooting the missile down.
Of course this is also why some missiles have the controls on a cable which could be up to fifty metres from the launcher itself. The launcher cops the incoming lead while the operator just keeps tracking all the way to the unfortunate target.

Right, I just wonder if the ZU-23-4 can put enough led downrange to actually hit an incoming missile. Targeting the ATGM operator is, of course, a better option with a higher probability of success.

AFAIK, the NATO, infantry-operated wire-guided ATGMs that would have been most common in a mid-to-late 1990s war were units where the sight/control unit was attached to the launcher tube (TOW, Milan). Older designs like the Sagger and Vigilante kept launchers separate from their sight/control units. I wonder why designers/engineers moved away from that design philosophy and towards integrated/combo units when, as you pointed out, the latter makes the operator much more vulnerable to detection and counter-fire. It seems so obviously better to separate the units so that the operator isn't revealed when the missile launches.