Missile tank

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A missile tank is a hypothetical armoured fighting vehicle fulfilling the role of a main battle tank, but using only guided missiles for main armament. Several nations have experimented with prototypes, notably the Soviet Union during the tenure of Nikita Khrushchev (projects Obyekt 167, Obyekt 137Ml, Obyekt 155Ml), but none has been put into service. Only missile tank IT-1 has limited service.

The term is sometimes applied to conventional tanks which are able to launch anti-tank guided missiles, to supplement their main gun for very long-range fire. Examples are the U.S.-German prototype MBT-70, the defunct U.S. M551 Sheridan and French AMX-13, and several Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian tanks: T-64, T-72, T-80, T-84, and T-90.

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union tested the RBT-5 rocket-based assault gun, comprising a BT tank mounting two 250-kg "TT Tank Torpedo" unguided rockets its turret sides. In World War Two they also deployed the BM-8-24 multiple rocket launcher, based on a T-60 light tank chassis. These weapons firing unguided rockets rather than guided missiles are properly classified as rocket artillery.