The ZT-6 Mokopa is a South African air-to-ground

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 ...

. , it is in its final stages of development, and is being integrated onto the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

Rooivalk The Denel Rooivalk (previously designated AH-2 and CSH-2) is an attack helicopter manufactured by Denel Aviation of South Africa. ''Rooivalk'' is Afrikaans for "Red Falcon", which refers to the lesser kestrel. Development of the type began in 19 ...

attack

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. The missile is produced by

Denel Dynamics Denel Dynamics, formerly Kentron, is a division of Denel SOC Ltd, a South African armaments development and manufacturing company wholly owned by the South African Government. It underwent a name change from Kentron to Denel Aerospace Systems dur ...

, formerly Kentron. The current version uses

semi-active laser Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

(SAL) guidance, requiring the target to be illuminated by a

laser designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire, or ...

either on the launch platform or elsewhere; though there are alternative guidance packages available including a millimetre-wave

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

(MMW) seeker and a two-colour imaging

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(IIR) seeker. All variants of the Mokopa feature two launch modes, lock-on before launch (LOBL) and

lock-on after launch Lock-on after launch (LOAL) is an ability of missile systems to lock-on to a target after being launched from a carrier vehicle. The term is normally used in reference to airborne weapons, especially air-to-air missiles. LOAL is an important part ...

(LOAL). LOBL is the older, more conventional mode of missile launching, where a target must be illuminated by the launch platform before launch. LOAL in contrast allows the launch platform to launch the missile with or without being in sight of the target. For the SAL version, this allows either the launch platform to move into place and illuminate the target only immediately before a missile strikes a target, or allows an observer on the ground equipped with a laser designator to guide a missile. This method of launch greatly reduces the exposure time of the launch platform to enemy fire.

Development

Full scale development of the Mokopa began in November 1996, due to a long-term United States arms embargo against South Africa blocking acquisition of the US

AGM-114 Hellfire The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) first developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets. It was originally developed under the name '' Heli ...

. The first air-launched tests from a Rooivalk helicopter took place in 1999, with the first guided tests following in 2000. As of 2005 the missile's development is virtually complete, and the first batches are currently being delivered to the SA Air Force's Rooivalk squadron. However, due to budgetary constraints the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

has decided to stop the integration of the weapon onto the

until an unspecified date.

Launch vehicles and platforms

Though mainly designed to be launched from a helicopter, the Mokopa has been tested on a variety of platforms, including mounting it on light armoured vehicles, ships, and small boats. For the latter purpose, the Mokopa is available with an anti-ship warhead.

Warhead

The Mokopa uses a powerful

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...

high-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT)

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Explosiv ...

, able to penetrate over (tests show up to 1,550 mm) of

rolled homogeneous armour Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World ...

(RHA), and also effective against

explosive reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic ener ...

(ERA). Thus, the Mokopa can counter any current vehicle armour threats. An anti-ship warhead is also available for customers who wish to use the Mokopa as a ship-board defence weapon, or as the armament of specialised ship-board helicopters.

Performance

The missile is considered to be very accurate, with an accuracy believed to match that of the company's other anti-tank missile, the Ingwe, at around 300 mm CEP at maximum range. It also has a long range for an anti-tank missile; at 10 km (6.2 mi) it is greater than the published range of most current competitors, including the Hellfire. The range is achieved due to an advanced solid-fuel composite

rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordance ...

(developed by Somchem), which has a relatively slow burning rate compared to similar motors, as well as being essentially smokeless.

Users

Algerian National Navy , image = Algerian Naval badge.svg , image_size = 220px , caption = Algerian Naval badge , dates = 1516–18271963–present , country ...

–In 2012 Algeria also ordered 100 Mokopa anti-tank missiles in 2012 under a R360 million deal, according to SIPRI. These are destined for use aboard its Lynx naval helicopters that will be deployed on its new Meko A-200 frigates.http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php option=com_content&view=article&id=38561&catid=74&Itemid=30 According to

Flightglobal FlightGlobal is an online news and information website which covers the aviation and aerospace industries. The website was established in February 2006 as the website of ''Flight International'' magazine, ''Airline Business'', ''ACAS'', ''Air ...

, the Algerian Navy's six new Super Lynx 300-series helicopters were conducting flight tests in 2014 armed with Mokopa anti-armour missiles.

References

External links

* , Denel Dynamics
Denel Dynamics Product Brochures (PDF)
{{Denel Air-to-surface missiles Anti-tank guided missiles of South Africa Guided missiles of South Africa Post–Cold War weapons of South Africa Denel Military equipment introduced in the 1990s