Joint Tetruin Lightweight Anti-Armor Missile
| Joint Tetruin Lightweight Anti-Armor Missile | |
|---|---|
 A soldier aiming a JT-LAAM during initial service trials. | |
| Type | Anti-tank guided missile |
| Place of origin |  Trinovantum Template:Country data Svenska |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Gullspång Ammunitionsfabrik FFLS |
| Designed | 2000-2006 |
| Manufacturer | FFLS |
| Produced | 2008-Pesent |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 12.5 kg |
| Length | 1016 mm |
| Crew | 1 |
| Caliber | 150 mm |
| Effective firing range | 20 to 600 meters |
| Maximum firing range | 1000 meters |
| Sights | Optical sight |
The Joint Tetruin Lightweight Anti-Armor Missile (JT-LAAM) is a lightweight, man portable, disposable short range fire and forget anti-vehicular weapon developed by Svenska and Trinovantum.
Development
In late 1999, the Trinovantan defense company Forente Forsvar Landsystemer approached Gullspång Ammunitionsfabrik of Svenska to jointly develop a new lightweight anti-tank missile to replace the RInPø-41 and m/86 used by each respective nation. In order to ensure effectiveness against the increasingly complex and effective armor schemes used by modern vehicles, FFLS determined that a top-attack weapon would be preferable compared to continuing the trend towards ever larger and heavier warheads used by “direct attack” weapons.
To this end, FFLS sought the expertise of Gullspång, which had previously created such a weapon. While Gullspång’s RB 56 was a much larger and more complex weapon than what was desired, it served as an important baseline during the JT-LAAM’s development cycle. The JT-LAAM retained the RB 56’s downward angled warhead, but the active SACLOS guidance was replaced with a simpler passive inertial guidance system. This also allowed for the deletion of the RB 56’s bulky launcher guidance unit. As the missile was now intended to be shoulder fired and not fired from a crew-mobile platform, the launch tube was changed from a simple smooth cylinder to a much more ergonomic design. In order to facilitate use of the weapon in enclosed or built up areas, the JT-LAAM missile features a less powerful secondary motor that ignites before the primary motor, to move the missile clear of the tube without producing significant backblast.
Over several years of testing in Gullspång’s facility in Örebro, further minor revisions and improvements were made to the weapon. Development effectively ceased in 2006, with examples of each weapon being sent to both Svenska and Trinovantum for presentation to their respective military forces. Svenska accepted the weapon into service in 2008, with Trinovantum adopting the weapon a year later.
Design
The JT-LAAM consists of a missile contained within a sealed launch tube. Mounted to the launch tube is a 2.5x optical sight and a simple fire control system which provides data to the missile’s inertial navigation system. The entire system has a length of 1016 mm and a weight of 12.5 kg, making it approximately the size and weight of a loaded general purpose machine gun. Once fired, the launch tube is intended to be discarded.
The missile makes use of a soft-launch system, where it is initially propelled by a less powerful rocket motor until it reaches a safe distance from the launch position, at which point its primary motor ignites. This is intended to reduce backblast to a point where it can be fired from enclosed spaces without risking injury to the operator or those around them. The initial velocity of the missile when fired is 40 meters per second. Once the primary motor ignites, this rapidly increases to approximately 200 meters per second. Unlike many guided missile systems, the JT-LAAM can be fired at extremely short ranges, with its minimum arming range being 20 meters. It is primarily intended to defeat targets via a downward angled high-explosive anti-tank warhead, which is detonated over the target. However, the missile’s explosive charge is significant enough that it can be used directly against soft targets and fortifications if desired.
A shortcoming of most infantry portable anti-tank systems is their ability to hit moving targets. Since most of these man portable systems possess no guidance, their hit rates are dramatically reduced against moving targets at range. To rectify this the JT-LAAM makes use of a simple inertially guided missile. To initialize guidance against a moving target, the operator must acquire and track a target with the optical sight for a minimum of three seconds prior to firing. This updates the missiles onboard systems with the expected velocity and direction of the target relative to the launcher. Once fired, the missile proceeds to the predicted intercept point and either strikes the target directly or via an overfly top-attack flight profile, depending on what option was selected by the operator. Presuming the target does not make significant changes to speed or course, the missile will arrive at the correct position with near-unerring accuracy. If fired without initiating the launcher’s tracking mode, the missile’s INS will keep it on a straight path towards the launcher optic’s aim point. The arming distance of the missile may be manually selected by the operator to avoid premature detonation in complex combat situations. Once fired, the missile requires no further input from the operator.
Because the guidance system is entirely passive, the JT-LAAM cannot be jammed or diverted via soft-kill protection systems, nor does it provide any warning to the target that it is being tracked by the missile. The only method to defeat the missile without destroying it in-flight requires the target to visually identify the threat and make a sudden change in course.
Operational History
Users
- Trinovantum
- As the GInPø-54
- Template:Country data Svenska
- As the RB 57
Temuair
- As the PAS-08