Based on its purchase for 52 Kornet-E units in 2017-2018, it appears that the Pakistan Army is moving to modernize its anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) inventory.
The current mainstays of the Army’s anti-tank missile stocks are the Bakhtar-Shikan (based on the Chinese HJ-8) and BGM-71 TOW. Both of these are optically tracked, wire-guided anti-tank missiles that can launch from land (via infantry and vehicles) and air (using the AH-1F/S Cobra attack helicopter).
However, for the future, the Army is evidently moving towards wireless ATGMs that use semi-active laser homing (SALH) and, potentially, other types of seekers for greater deployment flexibility.
In addition, the ATGMs the Army evaluated – or is in the process of evaluating – generally offer more range than the TOW or Bakhtar-Shikan, potentially by a factor of more than 2X.
Besides an extensive induction run, it will be worth seeing if Pakistan standardizes on a specific ATGM so that it could domestically manufacture it through the long-term (and supplant its older ATGM stocks). Or as an alternative, pursue an ATGM project of its own in parallel to the imports.
Infantry
In 2014-2015, the Pakistan Army ordered 1,413 Alcotán-100 100 mm anti-tank rockets with 158 VOSEL (M2) firing control unit for $24.76 million US from the Spanish company Instalaza. In 2017-2018, the Army ordered an additional 369 VOSEL (M2s) in 2017-2018 for $9.04 million US.
The Alcotán-100 is different from the other ATGMs the Army is considering in that it does not contain its own guidance unit (e.g., seeker), but rather, relies on the firing control unit, the VOSEL.
The VOSEL is a reusable firing unit with built-in night vision and target tracking. The VOSEL calculates the position and trajectory (or future position) of a moving target. Though the rocket is unguided, the VOSEL will set an accurate target point for the user to fire at, thereby increasing the rocket’s accuracy/kill-rate.
The end-user pairs it with the Alcotán rocket, which comes in three variants:
- The Alcotán AT (M2), a 10.5 kg anti-tank variant.
- The Alcotán BIV (M2), a 10 kg dual-purpose anti-armour and fragmentation rocket.
- The Alcotán ABK (M2), a 9.8 kg anti-bunker variant.
Each version offers a range of 600 m against specific point targets, though the BIV (M2) can cover a range of more than 1,000 m against area targets.
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