The MILAN ATGW, a Franco-German system, served as a cornerstone of the British Army’s medium-range anti-armour capability from the 1978 until its replacement by the Javelin in 2005
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MILAN ATGW
In 1972, MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm) and Aérospatiale SA formed a joint venture called Euromissile, now part of MBDA, to develop a man-portable anti-tank guided weapon and heavier vehicle/helicopter mounted weapon.
These two were MILAN (Missile d´infanterie léger antichar) and HOT (Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d’un Tube)
MILAN entered service relatively quickly and soon went on to achieve significant export success, including with the UK and 40 other countries.
MILAN uses a Semi-Automatic Command Line of Sight (SACLOS) guidance system, with a thin wire used to transmit guidance information from the firing post to the missile.
In British service it saw extensive use in Falklands, from Major John Crossland, OC B Company 2 PARA;
A Milan is an anti-tank weapon, which fires a guided missile with a very substantial warhead over a range of 2,000 metres. I thought, if we can bust them with the Milan, we can probably get round their flank, get down to Darwin, knock that off and then worry about Goose Green. The Milan was an unorthodox choice, but it was the only powerful weapon we had. Much to our relief, the first round fired was a perfect bull’s eye. It went straight through the bunker window and blew it out completely, and the second one did the same. Four more rounds and that was Boca House cleared out.
Everyone stood on their feet and cheered!
Milan was used extensively.
Milan 2 came into service in 1984, the two are easily distinguished by Milan 2 having a distinctive stand-off probe.
In 1984, it was revealed in a Parliamentary Answer that the cost of Milan was £7,500 per missile, or £22,000 equivalent price today.
The Milan Compact Turret was proposed for Fox and other vehicles.
The Milan Compact Turret (MCT) was added to approximately 70 Spartan hulls in 1984.
Milan was also mounted on a Warrior IFV during operations in the Iraq.
By the mid-eighties, thoughts of replacement were beginning to form, the long saga ending with the introduction of the Javelin ATGW in 2005, despite Milan having its last outing with the British Army in Afghanistan in 2006
