AGM-65A

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This page is about the American air-to-ground missile AGM-65A. For other versions, see AGM-65B and AGM-65D.

Description

The AGM-65A missile (scale is approximate)


The AGM-65A is an American TV-guided air-to-ground missile. It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".

The AGM-65A started development in 1965 due to the bad performance of the AGM Bullpup, which Hughes was selected in 1968 as the prime contractor. In September of 1969, the first prototype took flight, and in December of that year made the first guided direct hit. Production of the A model started in August of 1972 for the USAF.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

Missile characteristics
Mass 210.47 kg
Guidance TV
Maximum speed 0.9 M
Missile guidance time 105 secs
Firing range 23 km
Explosive mass 51.19 kg TNTeq
Warhead type HEAT
Armour penetration 830 mm

Effective damage

The AGM-65A's damage is somewhat inconsistent, mainly dependent on what targets you are striking. Light tanks/SPAAs/Open tops will generally be destroyed in one shot thanks to its 51kg warhead. However, against heavier targets like MBTs and heavies, the missile's damage is more inconsistent. Thanks to the automatic TV guidance of the missile, it can commonly land hits on only tracks or on the thickest armour parts at bad angles. It doesn't have enough damage to overpressure these heavier vehicles, so firing from above and/or behind your target will result in the best results. It may have 830mm of pen, but composite armour/ERA is too common at the rank to allow it to consistently engage targets at any angle without eating it.

Comparison with analogues

Similar missiles around the 9.3/10.3 battle-rating range are either Manual, SACLOS, or Laser-guided. The AGM-65A is the worst of the TV guided missiles, below the later 65B and the Russian Kh-29T. The 65B is more consistent, with a longer effective lock-on range and better controls allowing you to engage from both longer and closer distances. The Kh-29T on the other hand is far greater in power, as it carries a whopping 148 kg explosive mass, allowing it to even destroy multiple vehicles with one missile. Versus other missiles of the rank, this early Maverick has the advantage of being incredibly accurate, allowing you to scan the terrain for targets, and being fire-and-forget. The AGM-12 Bullpup, AS-20/30 Nord, and Kh-23M are keyboard-guided which either require great practice or firing like rockets. The Kh-66 is a beam riding missile, requiring you to lead the missile all the way in using your nose which leaves you incredibly vulnerable to ground fire/the ground. The AS-30L is the best competitor at 10.3, with great range, damage, and being laser guided (of which the Jaguar A's ATLIS pod is amazing for).

Usage in battles

Overall, the missile is very straight forwards: Point at target in third-person or inside the missile camera, press your target lock keybind, wait for the missile to follow the target, and fire. However, versus different targets, you'll have to use it differently. Also, the range is quite poor for moving targets, so keep your range to target in mind.

Air RB: In Air RB, this missile can be used in 3 main ways; Pillboxes/tanks, head-ons, and airfield campers. On ground targets, it's best used on pillboxes/tanks as they yield the most SL/RP. Simply just point and shoot and they'll die in one shot. Now against aircraft, the Mavericks can somewhat work. Using them on a head-on can make an enemy break off early, or even destroy them if they're flying straight (especially A-10s). However, against airfield campers the Mavericks allow you to snipe people on the field outside of SAM range. Fly above the enemy airfield, and get a lock on their plane. The slow and predictable path can allow you to get easy hits.

Ground RB: Ground RB is where the Maverick truly shines. An amazing tank-buster, it cracks even the heaviest tanks with just 1 or 2 missiles. Your first targets should generally be enemy AA's that threaten your very existence in the air. Spawn, climb, and get into their dead-zone while dropping missiles from 3km+ away. You CAN hit enemies from further than 3-4km, but it won't track them moving. Instead you'll have to bank on the target sitting in one spot (which is common for AAs). After eliminating enemy AA, focus on opportune targets. Targets in the open, targets with little foliage/building cover, sitting still, etc. Cap points are an easy way to find enemies, as just find a point being capped by an enemy. If you need to quickly lock up a target, don't forget you can activate your lock and lock targets in third person. The tracker will search right at your crosshair, and leave a square on the spot/target its chosen.

Also attached to Ground RB is engaging enemy helicopters. The Mavericks have quite the ability to eliminate enemy helicopters, thanks to being fire-and-forget and helicopters rarely have the agility to dodge. They seem to gain an extra kilometer or 2 of lock range on helicopters, so don't rule out helicopters (unless you just want to gun them down and run the risk of getting gunned yourself).

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Fire and forget weapon once a lock is made
  • Can lock on helicopters
  • Can be locked in 3rd person view

Cons:

  • Track-locking onto a tank-sized target only likely around 3 km (locking onto static target can still be done further away)
  • Cannot be used at night or in poor visibility conditions such as rain.
  • Cannot be fired without a lock.

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Related development

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • other literature.


Missiles
USA 
AAM  AIM-54A Phoenix · AIM-54C Phoenix · ATAS (AIM-92)
Sparrow  AIM-7C · AIM-7D · AIM-7E · AIM-7E-2 · AIM-7F · AIM-7M
Sidewinder  AIM-9B · AIM-9C · AIM-9D · AIM-9E · AIM-9G · AIM-9H · AIM-9J · AIM-9L · AIM-9M · AIM-9P
AGM  AGM-22 · APKWS II (M151) · APKWS II (M282) · BGM-71D TOW-2
Bullpup  AGM-12B Bullpup · AGM-12C Bullpup
Hellfire  AGM-114B Hellfire · AGM-114K Hellfire II
Maverick  AGM-65A · AGM-65B · AGM-65D
ATGM  LOSAT/MGM-166A
TOW  BGM-71 · BGM-71A · BGM-71B · BGM-71C
SAM  FIM-92 Stinger · MIM-72 · MIM146
Naval SAM  RIM-24A
Germany 
AAM  AIM-9B FGW.2 Sidewinder · Flz Lwf 63/80
AGM  9M14M Malyutka · Flz Lwf LB 82 · HOT-1 · HOT-2 TOW · HOT-3 · PARS 3 LR
AShM  AS.34 Kormoran
ATGM  HOT-K3S
SAM  Roland
USSR 
AAM  9M39 Igla · R-3R · R-3S · R-13M1 · R-23R · R-23T · R-24R · R-24T · R-27ER(1) · R-27ET(1) · R-27R(1) · R-27T(1) · R-60 · R-60M · R-60MK · R-73(E)
AGM  9K127 Vikhr · 9M17M Falanga · 9M120 Ataka · 9M120-1 Ataka
  Kh-23M · Kh-25 · Kh-25ML · Kh-29L · Kh-29T · Kh-29TE · Kh-29TD · Kh-66 · S-25L
ATGM  3M7 · 9M14 · 9M113 Konkurs · 9M114 Shturm · 9M123 Khrizantema · 9M133 · 9M133FM3 · 9M133M-2
SAM  95Ya6 · 9M311 · 9M311-1M · 9M331 · 9M37M
Naval SAM  Volna-M
Britain 
AAM  Fireflash · Firestreak · Red Top · Skyflash · Skyflash SuperTEMP · SRAAM
AGM  AS.12 · ZT-6 Mokopa
ATGM  BAe Swingfire · MILAN · MILAN 2 · ZT3
SAM  Starstreak
Japan 
AAM  AAM-3
AGM  Ki-148 I-Go Model 1B
ATGM  Type 64 MAT · Type 79 Jyu-MAT
SAM  Type 81 SAM-1C · Type 91
China 
AAM  PL-2 · PL-5B · PL-5C · PL-7 · PL-8 · TY-90
AGM  AKD-9 · AKD-10 · HJ-8A · HJ-8C · HJ-8E · HJ-8H
ATGM  302 · HJ-73 · HJ-73E · HJ-9 · QN201DD · QN502CDD
SAM  HN-6
Italy 
AAM  Aspide-1A
AGM  CIRIT · L-UMTAS · Spike ER
ATGM  Spike-LR2MR
Naval AShM  Nettuno
SAM  Mistral SATCP
France 
AAM  AA-20 Nord · Matra R511 · Matra R530 · Matra R530E · Matra Super 530D · Matra Super 530F · Matra R550 Magic 1 · Matra R550 Magic 2 · Mistral
AGM  9M14-2 Malyutka-2 · AS-20 Nord · AS-30 Nord · AS-30L Nord · HOT-1 · HOT-2 TOW · HOT-3 · Spike ER
ATGM  HOT · SS.11
SAM  Roland · VT1
Sweden 
AAM  RB24 · RB24J · RB71 · RB 74 · RB 74(M)
AGM  Rb05A · RB 53 Bantam · RB 55B Heli TOW · RB 55C Heli TOW · RB 75
ATGM  Rbs 55 · Rbs 56
SAM  Rbs 70
Israel 
AAM  Shafrir · Shafrir 2 · Python 3
ATGM  Spike-MR
  AAM = Air-to-Air Missile   AGM = Air-to-Ground Missile   AShM = Anti-Ship Missile   ATGM = Anti-Tank Guided Missile (Ground mounts)   SAM = Surface-to-Air Missile