Tandem Warhead

A Tandem Warhead is a type of warhead specifically designed to defeat modern tank armor (ERA - Explosive Reactive Armor). This type of warhead can be found primarily on Medium Anti-Tank Rockets, which would be too small to penetrate such heavy armor reliably without it.

Tandem Warheads carry two separate packs of explosive charges. The first is a small HE charge, stored in an elongated nose at the very tip of the rocket, which explodes when the rocket is at a short range away from its target. This explosion triggers the ERA, causing it to explode outwards prematurely and also mitigating that explosive force. The second explosive charge is a regular HEAT device that triggers when the rocket's body strikes the armor, piercing through it and destroying whatever is inside.

With these explosive charges triggering one after the other, the Tandem Warhead stands a very good chance of penetrating ERA in one hit, relative to its size. This allows designing rockets and launchers that are light enough to be carried by Infantry and fired from the shoulder. By comparison, larger HAT Missiles and ATGMs carry enough explosive power to defeat ERA without any tandem action, but are also significantly heavier - typically fired from a tripod or even a vehicle.