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« on: May 03, 2005, 01:02:27 pm »
GTTC: Rigid aluminium wouldnt do it, you'd need something at least as dense as steel and more than 4mm thick to have a hope of detonating the warhead.
I have seen the diameter of the entry hole for detonated heatrounds and I can assure you it is the size of a €2 coin.
The RPGs used in Somalia and A-Stan were modified with a simple timed HE warhead that detonated after a set flightime, they did their damage via fragmentation not direct penetration.
HMGs and 23mm guns are far superior anti aircraft weapons to RCLs and ATGMs.
@Fouga: Firstly they would bill it as something its not, secondly the Javelin has no specific anti air capacity other than it can lock onto targets that are above ground level.
Even if you managed to switch from the default top attack mode and fire the missile at a target that was visible and slow enough you'd have extremely poor odds of getting a kill.
On the other hand as GTTC has helpfully pointed out, Heavy calibre and small arms fire are massively effective against even armoured aircraft and a whole lot cheaper than a Javelin round.
Which is precisely why the Javelin has no anti-aircraft role in the Defence Forces.