ENTAC


ENTAC or MGM-32A was a French MCLOS wire-guided Anti-tank missile. Developed in the early 1950s, the weapon entered service with the French army in 1957. Production ended in 1974 after approximately 140,000 had been built.

Development

The missile was developed by the French Government agency - DTAT at the same time as the private industry SS.10. Development time for the ENTAC was longer than the SS.10, so it did not enter service until 1957. It proved to be a great improvement over the SS.10, which had entered production five years earlier. Once fully developed and tested, production of the ENTAC was given to the firm of Aerospatiale. The ENTAC was designed to be a man-portable weapon or operated from a small vehicle like the Jeep, replacing the Nord SS.10 in French service.

Design

The missile is launched from a simple metal box, which is connected to an operator station. An individual operator station can control up to 10 launcher boxes. The operator manually steers the missile by means of a small joystick. These course corrections are transmitted to the missile via a thin set of wires that trail behind the missile - see MCLOS. Like many early ATGMs, the missile had a large minimum range due to the time it took to get up to flight speed and come under operator control.

Operational history

Australia

Used from 1964 until 1982.

France

The missile first entered service in 1957. The ENTAC may have been used by France in small numbers during the 1960s and 1970s on peacekeeping operations.

India

ENTAC missiles entered service in 1968 after being ordered a year prior. They may have been used against Pakistani tanks during the 1971 war.

Iran

Ordered in 1966 and delivered from 1966-1969. It remained in service after the 1979 Iranian revolution and was used against Iraqi tanks during the 1980-88 war.

Israel

Entered service in 1963 after being ordered the year before. It is likely that they were used during the 1967 Six-Day War against Arab tanks.

Lebanon

Ordered in 1966 and entered service in 1967. These were deployed during the Lebanese Civil War and was used in street fighting, particularly during the early 1980s.

South Africa

French-made missiles were in the inventory, alongside locally manufactured licence-built missiles. Having acquired some 500 examples by 1969, expeditionary units of the South African Defence Force first deployed ENTACs against People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola and Cuban military advisers during Operation Savannah. The system was often mounted on unarmoured Land Rovers. South African servicemen destroyed at least one FAPLA mortar position with their missiles in September 1975. Two Angolan T-54/55 tanks were also eliminated by ENTAC crews, working in concert with Eland and Ratel-90 armoured cars, during Operation Askari, 1984.

United States

The US army purchased the Model 58 ENTAC with an improved warhead to replace the Nord SS.10. It was designed to be an interim weapon, used as the BGM-71 TOW was being developed. The first missiles were deployed in 1963, that year the missile received the US designation MGM-32A. In US service the missile was based on the M151 Jeep and issued to the Anti-tank Platoon of the Heavy Weapons Company. In Korea it replaced the Scorpion tracked AT vehicle, a 90MM SP Gun which could not climb the hilly terrain as easily as the Jeep. Using extended cables missiles could be fired from defilade. The missile was phased out between 1968 and 1969, being replaced with the more advanced BGM-71 TOW. It was used in the Vietnam War against fortified infantry positions, but not enemy tanks. It was fired by the 14th Infantry Regiment, amongst others.

Models

Former operators