Anti-armor

Anti-armor warfare arose as a result of the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy armored units (battle suits, landing tanks, armored personnel carriers, etc.). Because armor represents an enemy's greatest force projection on the ground (aside from nuclear artillery and armor vs. armor engagements), anti-armor warfare has been incorporated into the doctrine of nearly every ground combat service.

The effect of anti-armor warfare is to prevent enemy armor, and their supporting troops from maneuvering, which is the primary capability of the armor. In the US Army the degree of effect by an anti-armor weapon on a vehicle is referred to as either "mobility kill", "firepower kill", and "catastrophic kill". In a mobility kill (M-kill), the vehicle loses its ability to move, for example, by breaking a armor track; the target is then immobile, but may retain full use of its weapons and still be able to fight to some extent. A firepower kill (F-kill) is some loss of the vehicle's ability to fire its weapons. M-kills and F-kills may be complete or partial, the latter corresponding to reductions in a target's ability to move or fire. A catastrophic kill (K-kill) removes the armor's ability to fight completely; this may entail complete destruction of the armor or disabling the crew.

All Union ground forces (Army, Marines, System Defense Guard) are trained and equipped for anti-armor combat due to widespread use of battle armor and shields. The primary weapons used are missiles, bombs, artillery and DE weaponry. These may be ground-to-ground, air-to-ground or space-to-ground weapon systems.