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M47 Dragon

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M47 Dragon
Parts of M47 Dragon kit
Type	SACLOS wire-guided Anti-tank missile
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1975 - 1990
Used by	Iran, Iraq (Acquired M47 Dragons taken from captured Iranian soldiers), Switzerland, United States, The Netherlands
Wars	Gulf War
Production history
Designer	Raytheon
Designed	March 3, 1966
Manufacturer	McDonnell Douglas
Produced	1975
Number built	7,000 Launchers, 33,000 Missiles (US Army) 17,000 Missiles (US Marines)
Variants	Dragon II, Super Dragon, Saeghe 1 and 2 ^[1]
Specifications (FGM-77)
Length	1,154 mm (45.4 in)
Diameter	140 mm
Crew	1

Effective range	75 meters
Maximum range	1000-1500 meters
Warhead	Hollow charge

Speed	200 m/s (660 ft/s)
Guidance system	SACLOS system sights

US soldier firing M47 Dragon.

The M47 Dragon (developmental designation FGM-77) is an American shoulder-fired man-portable anti-tank missile system. The M47 Dragon has since been phased out, in favour of the newer FGM-148 Javelin system.

1 Description
2 Variants
3 Components
4 See also
5 References
6 Sources and external links

Description

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.

Variants

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. A reverse-engineered version made by Iran, known as the Saeghe, is known to be manufactured. Displayed in 2002 at the Defendory exhibition in Athens, it's currently being mass-produced ^[1]. It's said that Hezbollah was able to acquire some Saeghes for anti-tank/armor uses. ^[2]

Components

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.