The Mathogo (Acronym for ''Misil Anti-Tanque Hilo Guiado'' - ) is an Argentine first-generation wire-guided

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...

Background

The anti-tank missiles ( ATGW, anti-tank guided weapons) evolved in the late 1950s from the portable anti-tank rockets (ATR) like the

bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

, which required the operator to be close to the target, to overcome the limitations of these.

History

The Mathogo was developed by CITEFA (''Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de las FFAA'' - the Armed Forces Scientific and Technical Research Institute) in the 1970s to supplement and eventually replace the Argentine 105-mm recoilless rifles. In design it is similar to the Swedish BANTAM by Bofors - which is reported to have been bought in limited numbers for the Argentine Marine Corps - only slightly larger and with a pointed nose section with the first versions. Some news report photo captions have even mistaken it for the BANTAM. Development was completed in the late 1970s and various reports have stated that it is no longer in production. The Mathogo's warhead is capable of penetrating 400mm of

rolled homogeneous armor Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World W ...

. The missile achieved operational status in 1978 and is in use by the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

. The missile has been approved for launch from the

Agusta A109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to b ...

helicopter, although the missile's accuracy reportedly suffers when used in this role.ATW, p. 15

Variants

* Mathogo 1 * Mathogo 2 - improved warhead and higher speed

Users

References

Notes

Bibliography

* (AD) Zarzecki, Thomas. ''Arms Diffusion: The Spread of Military Innovations in the International System'', Psychology Press, 2002. * (ATW) Norris, John. ''Anti-tank weapons'', London: Brasseys, 1996. * (JALW) Lennox, Duncan. ''Jane's Air-Launched Weapons'', Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group, 2000. * (JIW) Hogg, Ian. ''Jane's Infantry Weapons 1995-96'', London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1995. * (JWS) ''Jane's Weapons Systems 1988-89'', London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1989.

External links

CITEFA web site
(also in English)

picture of the missile in its transporter/launcher box *{{in lang, es}

Mathogo missile mentioned in the equipment list and its status (site visited 15:33, 22 December 2007 (UTC)) Anti-tank guided missiles of the Cold War Guided missiles of Argentina Military equipment introduced in the 1990s