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 Germans did this in WW2. They had the most effective anti-air artillery piece, the 88.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41
They then started using it against Sherman’s and T-34s and it was super effective.

For a more modern conflict the Taliban used several ZSU-23s against us in Afghanistan as a crew served weapon against vehicles and personnel. Here is the fact sheet on this weapon.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZU-23-2

But to reaffirm a bunch of points other folks made a modern anti-air weapon such as a Patriot or a SA-19 would not be effective against tanks. The WWII and Afghanitstan examples are an anti-air “gun” (really artillery piece) and they can be used very effectively against ground forces. Modern anti-air systems consist of missiles with a warhead designed to explode to spread shrapnel to fuck up the plane or cruise missile it is targeted at. Tanks would just shrug that shrapnel off. You need special anti-tank rounds to kill a tank such as a Sabot or a HEAT round.