The Raketenjagdpanzer 1 is an

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

-armed

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often w ...

(the first such vehicle in service with the West German Armed Forces) that entered service in 1961. It was built on the chassis of the

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

HS.30, which was also used on the Schützenpanzer SPz 12-3, and armed with twin French

SS.11 The SS.11, or AS.11, known as AGM-22 in American service, is a French manual command to line of sight wire-guided anti-tank missile manufactured by Nord Aviation. The missile entered service with the French Army in 1956. Production of the SS. ...

antitank guided

missile In military terminology, a missile is a missile guidance, guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously ...

launchers. Only one of the missile launchers is visible from the outside at any time, however, as the other is retracted into the hull to be reloaded when the first is ready to fire.

Armament

The twin mounted launchers for the

anti-tank guided weapons were the primary armament for the Raketenjagdpanzer 1. With ten

s per vehicle, the crew had the theoretical ability to destroy ten enemy vehicles, although this was doubtful in practice. The weapon was

wire-guided A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behi ...

and the gunner continued to control the missile via a small

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

after launch. The SS.11 missile could penetrate 600 mm of rolled homogeneous armor.

Powerplant

The Rolls-Royce B81 Mk 80F engine, which could develop 235 hp @ 3,800 rpm, was chosen to power the Raketenjagdpanzer 1. The engine was capable of pushing the vehicle to speeds of 51 km/h.

Performance

The vehicle had a fording depth of 0.70 metres and was able to climb 60° gradients, clear vertical obstacles of 0.60 metres in height or cross trenches 1.60 metres wide.

References

{{Fire support vehicles Tank destroyers of Germany Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s