M47 Dragon

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US M47 Dragon
Technical Summary

Manufacturer:

McDonnell Douglas

Overall Length:

1,154 mm (45.4 in)

Missile Length (M222 HEAT):

744 mm (29.3 in)

Missile Weight (M222 HEAT):

14.6 kg (32.2 lb)

Missile Length (Mk 1):

846 mm (33.3 in)

Missile Weight (Mk 1):

16.2 kg (35.7 lb)

Effective range:

65 to 1000 m

Speed:

200 m/s (660 ft/s)

Daysight Weight:

3.1 kg (6.83 lb)

Nightsight Weight:

9.82 kg (21.65 lb)

The M47 Dragon (developmental designation FGM-77) is an American shoulder-fired man-portable anti-tank missile system.

It used a wire-guidance system in concert with a high explosive anti-tank warhead and was capable of defeating armored vehicles, fortified bunkers, main battle tanks and other hard targets. While it was primarily created to defeat the Soviet Union's T-55, T-62, and T-72 tanks, it has since seen action up into the current era including the Gulf War. The U.S. Armed Forces officially retired the weapon in the late 1990s; however stocks of the weapon remain in arsenals.

In use by the U. S. Army, the U. S. Marine Corps, as well as many foreign militaries the design was first fielded in 1975. The effective range of the Dragon was 1000 meters, with the rocket traveling 100 meters per second, guided by an infrared sight. The operator had to remain kneeling and had to guide the missile into its target, which exposed him to enemy fire.

The Dragon was upgraded to the designation Dragon II in 1985 when its penetration effectiveness was increased. Reaching its current designation of Super-Dragon in 1990, it was capable of penetrating 18 inches (450 mm) of armor at a maximum effective range of 1,500 meters.

The launcher system of the Dragon consists of a smoothbore fiberglass tube, breech/gas generator, tracker, bipod, battery, sling, and forward and aft shock absorbers. In order to fire the weapon non-integrated day or night sights must be attached. While the launcher itself was expendable, the sights can be removed and reused.

The M47 Dragon has since been phased out, in favour of the newer FGM-148 Javelin system.