MILAN

MILAN (French: Missile d´infanterie léger antichar; English: Light anti-tank infantry missile, milan(e) is French for kite) is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962, it was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS (semi-automatic command to line-of-sight) missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the target to guide the missile. The MILAN can be equipped with a MIRA or MILIS thermal sight to give it night-firing ability.

History

MILAN is a French / German missile that has been license-built by Italy, Spain, Britain and India. Because it is guided by wire by an operator, this missile can avoid most countermeasures (flares, chaff and radio jammers). The drawbacks are its short range, the exposure of the operator, problems with overland powerlines and a vulnerability to infrared jammers such as Shtora that can prevent the automatic tracking of the missile's IR tail light.

Variants

MILAN 1 missile.

MILAN II with stand-off probe which almost doubled penetration

View through MILAN optical sight

• MILAN 1: Single, main shaped charge warhead (1972), calibre 103 mm
• MILAN 2: Single, main shaped charge warhead, with standoff probe to increase penetration (1984) – see photo to right, calibre 115 mm
• MILAN 2T: Single main shaped charge, with smaller shape charge warhead at end of standoff probe to defeat reactive armour (1993)
• MILAN 3: Tandem, shaped charge warheads (1996) and electronic beacon
• MILAN ER: Extended range (3,000 m) and improved penetration

The later MILAN models have tandem HEAT warheads. This was done to keep pace with developments in Soviet armour technology – Soviet tanks began to appear with explosive reactive armour, which could defeat earlier ATGMs. The smaller precursor HEAT warhead penetrates and detonates the ERA tiles, paving the way for the main HEAT warhead to penetrate the armour behind.

Operators

Map with MILAN operators in blue and former operators in red

Current operators

•  Afghanistan – Afghan National Army
•  Armenia – Armed Forces of Armenia^[2]
•  Brazil – Brazilian Army
•  Belgium – Belgian Army: Infantry weapon; to be replaced by Spike-MR missile.^[3]
•  Chad – Chadian Ground Forces: Infantry weapon.
•  Cyprus – Cypriot National Guard 45 launchers
•  Estonia – Estonian Defence Forces
•  Egypt – Egyptian Army: Mounted on light vehicles. 220 units are used.
•  France – French Army: Infantry and vehicle-mounted weapon. Will be replaced by Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP) from 2017.^[4]
•  Germany – Bundeswehr: Mounted primarily on Marder and TPz Fuchs fighting vehicles; to be replaced by EUROSPIKE.
•  Greece – Hellenic Army 400 Launchers
•  India – Indian Army: Infantry and vehicle-mounted weapon. Around 30,000 built under license by Bharat Dynamics. The Indian Army has also spent close to US$120 million on 4,100 new MILAN-2T ATGMs.^[5]
•  Iraq – Iraqi Army: One reportedly hit a British Challenger 2 MBT during the early stages of Operation Telic along with multiple rocket-propelled grenades. The tank survived the attack.
  •  Kurdistan – Peshmerga: 30 launchers and 500 missiles, delivery in two portions was announced on August 31, 2014 by German Bundeswehr.^[6][7] Used by the Kurds to stop ISIL vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs).^[8]
•  Italy – Italian Army: Infantry weapon. Built under license by Oto Melara; Total of 714 launchers with 17,163 missile delivered in 1990. 807 MILAN 2T ordered in 2004 and delivered in 2005 (SIPRI).^[9]
•  Kenya – Kenyan Army: Infantry weapon.
•  Lebanon – Lebanese Army
•  Libya – Libyan National Army
•  Macedonia - Army of the Republic of Macedonia
•  Mauritania – Mauritanian Army
•  Mexico – Mexican Army (Ejército Mexicano): Mounted primarily on Panhard VBL scout cars; at least 16 launchers and several hundred missiles are available.
•  Morocco – Royal Moroccan Army
•  Pakistan – Pakistan Army
•  Portugal – Portuguese Army; Portuguese Marines
• PKK : As per the Der Spiegel, PKK acquired the MILAN anti tank missiles ^[10]
•  South Africa – South African Army: 375 missiles.^[11]
•  Spain – Spanish Army: Upgraded to MILAN 2/2T.
•  Syria – Syrian Army: About 1000 missiles used in the anti-vehicular role.
  • Free Syrian Army: Some captured.^[12]
•  Tunisia – Tunisian Armed Forces: 120 missiles.^[11]
•  Turkey – Turkish Army
•  Uruguay – Uruguayan Army
•  Yemen – Yemeni security forces

Former operators

•  Australia – Australian Army: Was used by infantry and mounted on vehicles. The Australian Army withdrew the MILAN from service in the early 1990s. The ADF now fields the FGM-148 Javelin system.
•  Ireland – Irish Army: Infantry weapon; replaced by the FGM-148 Javelin.
•  Singapore – Singapore Army: Replaced by the Israeli Spike.
• UNITA: 150 missiles.^[11]
•  United Kingdom – British Army; Royal Marines – While primarily an infantry weapon, it was also used in the FV120 Spartan MCT turret. Over 50,000 missiles were purchased for use in the British Armed Forces. The MILAN was deployed against Argentine bunkers in the Falklands conflict^[13] and later against T-55s during the Persian Gulf War.^[14] It was replaced by the FGM-148 Javelin in mid-2005.

Gallery

• 
  A Bundeswehr Marder infantry fighting vehicle fires a MILAN.
• 
  MILAN, 2007
• 
  German Army MILAN equipped with an AGDUS combat simulator
• 
  Vehicle mounted launcher and missiles in Egyptian service during Operation Desert Shield, 1992.
• 
  Missile impact on a training target, 2001.

See also

• ERYX
• Euromissile HOT
• BGM-71 TOW
• HJ-8

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MILAN.

• Technical data sheet on the website of MBDA
• GlobalSecurity.org
• Information about The British Army's Milan 2

Video link

• British army training video of MILAN on YouTube