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

It’s kind of like hunting.

For birds, you want lots of small projectiles. They’re hard to hit, so you want to maximize your chances of hitting them and since they’re small, a few small projectiles will probably be effective/no need to hit with all of the projectiles.

For large game you need a big bullet. A small bullet will just make it angry.

Could you shoot a bird with a big bullet? Sure, but you’ll probably miss and if you did, it’d be overkill. Same for small game, a big bullet will work, but it’s not ideal.