Atop attack weapon is designed to attackarmored vehicles from above, to take advantage of the fact that thearmour is usually thinnest on the top of an armoured vehicle. The device may be delivered as a smartsubmunition or a primary munition by ananti-tank guided missile (ATGM),mortar bomb,artilleryshell, or even an emplacedmunition such as a mine. Top attack munitions use either ashaped charge warhead (often now tandem warheads in order to defeatERA), or anexplosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead fired while over the target (usually by submunition).
The top attack concept was first put into service by theSwedish Armed Forces in 1988 with the BoforsRBS 56 BILL top-attack anti-tank missile.[1]
Another method of top attack is theoverfly top-attack (OTA or OFTA) where a missile with a vertically oriented shaped charge jet that fires downwards. A missile is directed to overfly the vehicle where a sensor detects the vehicle, and detonates the shape charge down into the top of the vehicle. This is system employed with theNLAW man-portable ATGM.
Notable weapon systems that utilize top attack include:
