ZT-6 Mokopa
Contents
Description
The ZT-6 Mokopa ("Black Mamba") is a South African air-to-ground missile with semi-active laser guidance in the same class as the American AGM-114K Hellfire II and the Chinese AKD-10. Appearance-wise it is a nondescript, cylindrical missile with small, stubby control surfaces and a green paint scheme. It shares many features with its counterparts: top-attack flight profile, tandem warhead, and inertial guidance (IOG) capability for lock-after-launch attacks.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
| Missile characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Mass | 49.8 kg |
| Guidance | Laser+IOG |
| Maximum speed | 530 m/s |
| Missile guidance time | 50.0 secs |
| Firing range | 10 km |
| Explosive mass | 5.37 kg TNTeq |
| Armour penetration | 1,350 mm |
Effective damage
The Mokopa has a very powerful tandem-HEAT warhead penetrating up to 1,350 mm of RHA, which is in excess of the Hellfire II and a very close second to the AKD-10. All of these missiles have grossly excessive penetration for top attack profiles, but it never hurts to have extra flat pen if the impact point is a tricky piece of armour geometry. Even the Leopard 2A5's signature turret prow can't always absorb a Mokopa.
However the Mokopa does suffer from a below average TNT equivalent at only 5.37 kg. This is still plenty for obliterating light targets but much less than the Hellfire II. In practice this means that it's slightly more likely for a target with roof ERA (e.g. Soviet tanks) to avoid the overpressure effects that would normally cause a one-hit knockout, and destroying light targets hiding in cover with splash damage is more difficult.
Comparison with analogues
The Mokopa compares quite favorably to the Hellfire II and AKD-10. The nearly best-in-class penetration is a nice perk, but its main power is the very strong kinematics: the 530 m/s top speed is the fastest of all Hellfire-style ATGMs in War Thunder and the 10 km maximum launch range is best-in-class, tied with the AKD-10. A Mokopa user can sit far behind the battlefield in relative safety and not have to wait an excessively long time for the missiles to arrive to their targets. This also makes the Mokopa effective for jousting with enemy helicopters, although the infamous Soviet 9K127 Vikhr is still faster and has a proximity fuse to boot.
The Mokopa only has a few drawbacks: as mentioned earlier, the lesser TNT equivalent will sometimes lead to inconsistent lethality upon a successful hit, and the powerful rocket motor can sometimes backfire at closer engagement distances by not giving the missile enough room to maneuver.
Usage in battles
The Mokopa can generally be used the same way as the Hellfire II. Be slightly more prudent with the laser designator aiming point when targeting tanks because pointing to a turret roof won't always lead to an overpressure knockout; a good hit should either hit unprotected roof armour or place ammo racks in the path of the HEAT jet. At close quarters, the Mokopa has a tendency to overshoot its targets due to its sheer speed. It's best to use unguided rockets for rushing attacks instead and maintain a comfortable distance otherwise.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Highest flight speed, highest penetration, and best range of any Western helicopter ATGM
- Semi-active laser guidance allows for salvo firing and lock-after-launch
Cons:
- Below average TNT equivalent
- Unwieldy at short range
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
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See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
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