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2.1 Modern anti-tank vehicles
A modern anti-tank vehicle armed with anti-tank missiles is useful tactically principally on the defensive. Due to the fact that the gunner must continue to aim at the enemy tank until the missile strikes the target, in order to guide the missile, the anti-tank vehicle must not move, because this would disturb the gunner's aim. These missiles require a stable firing platform for accuracy. A helicopter gunship can sometimes get away with moving slightly while the missile is in flight because it moves smoothly, rather than bouncing violently cross-country and causing the gunner to get a black eye from being whacked in the face repeatedly by the eyepiece of his missile launcher's sight.
Part of the anti-tank vehicle's tactical role is filled in some armies by the infantry fighting vehicle which can be thought of as an armored personnel carrier with much heavier armament, usually (though not always) including a heavy 20mm to 30mm autocannon and/or a small 73mm to 100mm gun similar to those mounted on older tanks and/or an antitank missile launcher (examples include the Russian BMP series, the US M2 Bradley and LAV25, the British Warrior II , and the German Marder). The US Army retains both, and a US Army mechanized infantry battalion has both four mechanized infantry companies with infantry fighting vehicles but also a company of anti-tank vehicles which supplement the anti-tank guided missile teams that are part of every infantry platoon. Such a battalion can bring an astounding concentration of precise, accurate, and lethal fire to bear on an attacking enemy unit that uses AFVs, but is very expensive to equip, train, and maintain.
Tank destroyers
