Armor: February 12, 2001

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After twenty years of development, the army finally got the first 110 "Hornet" anti-tank weapons. Basically, Hornet's a smart mine that attacks from above. Think of it as a robotic anti-tank weapon. The Hornet weights 35 pounds, is 13 inches high and looks like a distorted miniature windmill. Hornet uses a library of sounds (heard through the air and ground) for potential hostile armored vehicles. Once Hornet is turned on, and it detects one of these vehicles within 600 meters, it fires a five pound coffee can size round into the air. The warhead has a radar and heat sensor, which confirms the target and then fires a special shaped charge that penetrates the top armor of the vehicle and destroys it. Hornet, called WAM (Wide Area Munition) through most of its development) costs $65,000 each. Hornet is ideal for airborne and Medium Brigade units, as it allows enemy armor to be killed without getting your own troops up close. Hornet is also perfect for ambushes. The air force uses a weapon similar to Hornet (just the warhead, delivered dozens at a time from bomb shaped containers.)

 

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