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?

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Answer 1

The way a missile tracks tanks is often different than the way missiles track aircraft.

Typically anti-tank missiles are either optically guided – you look through a sight, launch missile and it goes where you are looking, or laser guided. You look through a sight, a laser beam points there and the missile homes in on where the laser is shining.

Slower acceleration and shorter ranged missiles with big warheads designed to punch through armor and defenses with a jet of molten metal.

Typically anti-air missiles are radar or infra-red guided (though UV sensors are becoming a thing too and a few are command and laser guided) and have a small warhead that’s designed to make a high speed cloud of metal fragments that tear into delicate aircraft and have high impulse rocket motors to accelerate and fly for distances that outrange any anti-tank missile.