What makes a weapon anti-air or anti-tank? Would anti-air be effective against tanks? Could we create one weapon that covers both, or even all possible targets?

Question

What makes a weapon anti-air or anti-tank? Would anti-air be effective against tanks? Could we create one weapon that covers both, or even all possible targets?

In: 864

Answer 1

the primary characteristic of an anti-air missile is maneuverability. it takes energy for a fast moving object to change direction and so aa missiles carry a lot of fuel and a little warhead. anti-armor missiles are targeted against very slow moving ground vehicles and need a heavy warhead to get the job done, but don’t need to maneuver much once they are pointed at a target. it would theoretically be possible to create a missile that does both, but it would be more expensive than either dedicated missile and probably have worse performance.