UMTAS or Mizrak-U ''(Uzun Menzilli Tanksavar Sistemi)'' is a modern long range

air-to-surface An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common pro ...

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 shoulde ...

developed by Turkish armor and missile manufacturer Roketsan.

Background

The UMTAS program was begun in late 2003 by Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM), specifically to provide TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK combat helicopters with an indigenous

guided missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of Propulsion, self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a targ ...

. The UMTAS has been designed to engage tanks and heavily armoured vehicles. It can be integrated in various platforms, including helicopters, UAVs, land vehicles, stationary platforms, light assault aircraft, ships.

Description

The UMTAS missile has '' fire and forget'' and ''fire and update''

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

guidance Guidance may refer to: Arts and media * Guidance (album), ''Guidance'' (album), by American instrumental rock band Russian Circles * Guidance (film), ''Guidance'' (film), a Canadian comedy film released in 2014 * Guidance (web series), ''Guidance ...

with a tandem

anti-tank warfare Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

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

. The laser guided version is marketed as the L-UMTAS. Abilities:Long Range Anti-Tank Missile
(LRAT) , Roketsan, Retrieved October 11, 2010 * Fire behind mask * Can be used day or night and in adverse weather *

Tandem-charge A tandem-charge or dual-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation, assisting it to penetrate either reactive armour on an armoured vehicle or strong structures. Anti-tank Tandem charges are ef ...

warhead, effective against

reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour used in protecting vehicles, especially modern tanks, against shaped charges and hardened kinetic energy penetrators. The most common type is ''explosive reactive armour'' (ERA), but variants include ...

Insensitive munition 'Insensitivity' (sensi'tivitē) refers to a lack of sensitivity (human), sensitivity for other's feelings. It may also refer to: * Insensitive (song), "Insensitive" (song), a 1995 song by Canadian singer Jann Arden * Insensitive (House), ''Insensi ...

characteristics against liquid fuel fire and bullet hits * Communication of seeker image to user and command by user using data-link * Lock-on before or after launch (L-UMTAS) * Update of aim point on target (UMTAS) * Switch targets during flight (UMTAS) *

Direct fire Direct fire or line-of-sight fire refers to firing of a ranged weapon whose projectile is launched directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the user. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, ...

top attack A top attack weapon is designed to attack armored vehicles from above, to take advantage of the fact that the armour is usually thinnest on the top of an armoured vehicle. The device may be delivered as a smart submunition or a primary munition b ...

(UMTAS) *

Fire-and-forget Fire-and-forget is a type of missile guidance which does not require further external intervention after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance, and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the tar ...

, fire-and-update modes (UMTAS)

Development

Phase 1 (design) began in 2005 and finished in 2008. Phase 2 (development and qualification) began in 2008 and finished in 2015. The L-UMTAS and UMTAS version have been integrated and fired successfully from helicopters: a Turkish TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK against land targets, and a US

Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificati ...

against sea targets. A UMTAS was test dropped successfully from a

Baykar Bayraktar TB2 Bayraktar TB2 ( Turkish: ''Standard-bearer TB2'') is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Ba ...

unmanned combat aerial vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircra ...

(UCAV). The missile was released at an altitude of to hit a 2×2 meter target self laser designated from the drone, from 8 kilometres away. These missile tests may be a step in a related program to use MAM weapons with Bayraktar drones. The MAM-L smart munition was developed from L-UMTAS. Serial production has begun with the delivery dates set in 2016. The ''Geleceğin Muharebe Sistemi'' (Future Combat System) version of the missile (UMTAS-GM) was displayed in 2023. UMTAS-GM-1 features dual IIR/SAL seekers in a flat split-design nose with a bidirectional RF

datalink A data link is a means of telecommunications link, connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a t ...

in a cylindrical body and an aligned, cruciform fold-out wing and aft fin assembly. It weighs and can be equipped with an insensitive tandem anti-tank, high-explosive blast fragmentation, or thermobaric warhead. Range is when fired from land vehicles and naval vessels and from helicopters. UMTAS-GM-2 has the ability to be fired day / night, according to the type of warhead it has. It can be used against main battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers, trucks, all-terrain vehicles, light pillboxes, trenches, buildings, helicopters flying at low altitude.UMTAS-GM-2 also offers the opportunity to shoot from behind the suture by using its propulsion capacity and gliding capability. In this way, the target can be destroyed from safe distances without entering the firing range of enemy elements. With the Hybrid Seeker Head to be located on UMTAS-GM-2, it will be able to provide the user with high-resolution battlefield images at different wavelengths day and night.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umtas Post–Cold War weapons of Turkey Anti-tank guided missiles of Turkey Air-to-surface missiles of Turkey Roketsan products Military equipment introduced in the 2010s Fire-and-forget weapons