Academician Answers 1000 Questions on Military Science - Academician Answers Young People's Questions

Author: Zhou Kun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Why Are Guided Missiles Called the "Shadow" of a Tank?
At a hidden military test base abroad, several tanks entered a depression and hid beneath dense underbrush, attempting to evade enemy attacks. But suddenly, a deafening explosion echoed in the sky, and several missiles, like shadows of the tanks, tracked them down. In an instant, thick smoke billowed from the tank turrets. These shadow-like missiles were the new long-range guided missiles.
The "brain" of a guided missile is a highly sensitive sensor. It functions similarly to a radar, automatically emitting electromagnetic waves to locate and identify the target. Guided missiles consist of a mother missile and several sub-missiles. When the mother missile explodes in the air, the sub-missiles quickly fly out from its "belly" and use the sensors in each sub-missile to fly toward the tank and destroy it. One mother missile can carry several or even a dozen sub-missiles, capable of attacking multiple tanks or even an entire tank formation simultaneously.
Guided missiles are generally launched using special artillery,, truly achieving "shadow-like" tracking with the tank.
Knowledge Link
During World War I, the German and French armies clashed in the Battle of Verdun. A French artillery shell that deviated from its intended trajectory accidentally hit the German secret ammunition supply base, causing an explosion that destroyed all 450,000 shells of large-caliber artillery, leaving countless cannons disabled on the battlefield. Taking advantage of their inferiority, the French seized the opportunity to shell the German artillery positions one by one, completely destroying the German heavy artillery.