FGM-172 Short Range Assault Weapon

FGM-172 Short Range Assault Weapon

FGM-172 Short Range Assault Weapon (SRAW), also known as the Predator SRAW, is a lightweight, close range missile system produced by Lockheed Martin, developed by Lockheed Martin and Israel Military Industries designed to complement the Javelin anti-tank missile. The Predator has a longer range and is more powerful than the AT4 that it is designed to replace, but has a shorter range than the Javelin.


Between February 1990 and mid-1993, a demonstration/validation phase was conducted by several competing companies, with the first test firings occuring in 1991. In July 1994, the Predator design of Loral (now Lockheed Martin) was selected for the EMD (Engineering and Manufacturing Development) phase. It was not before 2006 that the official designation FGM-172A was assigned to the missile (before that, it was formally known as SRAW MK 40 MOD 0).

U.S. Army with FGM-172 SRAW

The Predator is a fire-and-forget weapon utilizing a pre-launch system where the gunner tracks the target three seconds before launch and the internal system measures target speed and direction and is used in conjunction with known missile flight performance to predict where the target will be when the missile is in a position to intercept. The missile's flight path overflies the target aim point. A dual laser and magnetic sensor detects the target and triggers the detonation of the warhead. The laser sensor locates the positions of the leading and trailing edges of the tank, and the magnetic sensor provides confirmation of the position of the tank. The missile also uses an inertial guidance unit that the weapon over the predicted intercept point, compensating for crosswind and launcher motion (the launcher may be mounted on or fired from a vehicle). For direct attacks the missile acts as an unguided, flattened trajectory, line-of-sight weapon and the warhead detonates on impact.

U.S. Army with FGM-172 SRAW

The U.S. Army evaluated a derivative of the Predator SRAW with a multipurpose warhead for its MPIM (Multipurpose Individual Munition) requirement. A variant named Kestrel, with a direct-attack warhead, was unsuccessfully entered in the UK's NLAW (Next Generation Light Anti-Armour) competition.

Amazon Store

Overview:

• Type: Anti-Tank Missile Launcher
• Place of origin: United States
• Designer: Lockheed Martin
• Designed: 2002
• Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
• Produced: 2003–present

Specifications:

• Weight: 9.7 kg (21 lb)
• Length: 70.5 cm (2  ft 3 3⁄4 in)
• Width: 14 cm (5.5 in)
• Muzzle velocity: 900 km/h (560 mph)
• Effective range: 17 to 600 m (19 to 660 yd)
• Filling: EFP - Explosively Formed Penetrator (original version, now replaced with multipurpose blast warhead)