The Roketsan OMTAS (Mizrak-O) manufactured by Roketsan is the first 160mm-calibre manportable/vehicle-mounted medium-range anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) developed in Turkey. The new missile is intended in the first instance to meet a Turkish Land Forces Command requirement for an indigenously-developed medium-range ATGM to replace its current 152 mm BGM-71 tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) and 103mm Milan wire-guided command to line-of-sight ATGM capabilities. Although its exact origins are unknown, on paper it qualifies as a fourth-generation ATGM endowed with range, precision, and lethality.
OMTAS is a day/night all-weather weapon system featuring both direct attack and top attack modes, and lock-on before launch, lock-on after launch, fire-and-forget, and fire-and-update operating modes. The missile is 1,800mm in length (including the launch tube and forward and aft shock cushions) and weighs 35 kg (including the launch tube). Designed to engage stationary and moving armoured targets at ranges in excess of 4,000 m (with a minimum engagement range of 200 m), the new missile features a dual thrust (boost and sustain) rocket motor, an uncooled imaging infrared (IIR) seeker assembly, a two-way radio-frequency datalink, and a high-explosive tandem charge warhead designed and delivered by TDW in Germany, and now being developed and produced by Roketsan in-house.
The OMTAS is meant as a sibling to the heavier UMTAS/Mizrak-U also produced by Roketsan. While the latter is a multi-purpose long-range missile like the Hellfire, the OMTAS is an all-in-one firepower asset for its clients. It can be deployed in modules on remote turrets for armored vehicles and used by individual soldiers. In terms of armor penetration—a specification that remains unspecified—the OMTAS missile’s warhead could punch through most vehicles, buildings, and fortifications. UMTAS, also known as Mizrak-U, is an air-launched long-range anti-tank missile, similar to the US Hellfire. It has longer range than the OMTAS.
