Aérospatiale (Nord) MGM-32 Entac

The French anti-tank missile Entac (Engin Téléguidé Anti-Char = Remotely Guided Anti-Tank Missile) was used by the U.S. Army as an interim weapon before the BGM-71 TOW became available.

The Entac was developed in the early 1950s by the DTAT (Direction Technique des Armaments Terrestres), a French governmental organization, as a wire-guided, roll-stabilized line-of-sight anti-armour missile. Production of the missile, which was first fielded by the French Army in 1957, was by Nord Aviation (later Aérospatiale). The Entac was a relatively small and light-weight weapon for infantry use, and a single operator could control a vehicle-based firing post with up to 10 missiles. It was fired from a simple box-like launcher, and was optically tracked and manually guided by the operator using a small control stick. Its two-stage solid rocket motor propelled the Entac to a maximum range of 2000 m (6600 ft), and its shaped-charge warhead could penetrate up to 65 cm (25 in) of armour.

Photo: SNIAS

Entac (MGM-32A)

U.S. Army interest in the Entac started in 1959, and in September and October that year, the Army flight tested some Entac rounds (under the provisional designation of T581). Evaluation continued through 1961, when it was announced that Entac would be procured as a replacement for another French anti-tank missile, the SS.10/MGM-21. At one time it was considered to produce the missile in the USA, but this wasn't done, because the anticipated limited service time of the Entac with the U.S. Army didn't warrant the high startup costs of license production. The first Entacs reached operational U.S. Army units in 1963, and in June that year, the missile was designated as MGM-32A. The U.S. Army used its M151 Jeep as launch platform for the Entac. The MGM-32A was phased out after only 5 years of service, when the BGM-71 TOW became available as replacement.

Photo: U.S. Army

MGM-32A

The Entac was also used by the armies of several other Western countries, and when production at Aérospatiale was terminated in 1974, almost 140000 missiles had been built.

Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for MGM-32A:

Length	82 cm (32 in)
Wingspan	37.5 cm (14.8 in)
Diameter	15.2 cm (6.0 in)
Weight	12.2 kg (26.9 lb)
Speed	305 km/h (190 mph)
Range	2000 m (6600 ft)
Propulsion	Two-stage (boost/sustain) solid-fuel rocket
Warhead	4 kg (8.8 lb) shaped-charge anti-armour

Main Sources

[1] Bill Gunston: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles", Salamander Books Ltd, 1979
[2] R.T. Pretty, D.H.R. Archer (eds.): "Jane's Weapon Systems 1972-73", Jane's, 1973
[3] Redstone Arsenal Historical Information Website

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Last Updated: 1 February 2002