ATGM Employment: Fire From Behind Cover

Anti-tank guided missiles are the reason helicopters matter on the battlefield. A helicopter with ATGMs can kill armor from beyond the range where that armor can shoot back, from behind terrain, and then leave before anyone knows where the shot came from. Employed badly — hovering in the open while guiding a missile — the same weapon makes you the most visible target on the map.

How the weapon actually works

Missiles differ between vehicles: guidance type, flight speed, penetration, and effective range all vary and change over time. Confirm your helicopter’s missile performance before planning engagements, because guidance type changes the whole approach: a beam-rider demands line of sight for the entire flight, a fire-and-forget does not. What does not change is the workflow:

1. The missile needs line of sight to the target for at least part of its flight, depending on guidance type.
2. Missiles take time to reach the target — flight time matters against moving targets.
3. Missiles have a minimum arming distance; point-blank launches fail.

The masked firing cycle

Phase	Action	Error that kills
Mask	Sit behind terrain, rotor below the ridgeline or treeline	Hovering where the target can see you
Pop up	Rise just enough to see and acquire the target	Rising fully exposed “to be sure”
Launch	Fire, then descend back behind cover	Staying up to watch the impact
Guide	Keep the target illuminated if your guidance requires it	Letting the crosshair drift off the target
Relocate	Move to a new masked position after impact	Firing the next shot from the same spot

The cycle is the same geometry helicopters use against everything: terrain between you and the threat, exposure measured in seconds, and a new position after every launch. The AA survival patterns apply here too — most helicopters die to ground fire while launching, not after.

Target selection

Missiles are expensive in the sense that every launch exposes you. Prioritize:

1. Vehicles actively killing friendlies — the ones shooting at your ground forces.
2. Vehicles that will kill you if ignored — other helicopters and air defense.
3. Whatever the mission actually needs destroyed, in order of value.

Do not spend missiles on targets your cannon or rockets can handle; save the exposure for what requires it.

After the shot

The launch gives your position away. Anyone who saw the missile now knows roughly where you are, and anything with return fire will look. Move after every engagement — a few hundred meters to a new masked position is enough to break the correlation. A helicopter that fires twice from the same hiding spot teaches the enemy where to aim. The vehicles most likely to punish a badly chosen firing position are air defense and other helicopters; the AA role guide explains how they hunt.