Top attack

A top attack weapon is designed to attack armoured vehicles from above as a form of plunging fire, as the armour is usually thinnest on the top of the vehicle. Ideally, it will penetrate perpendicular to the attacked surface. The device may be delivered (often as a submunition) by an anti-tank guided missile, mortar, artillery shell, or even an emplaced munition such as a mine. Top attack munitions use either a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead for direct impact or near impact, or an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead fired while flying over the target (overfly top attack, OTA).

The top attack concept was first put into service by the Swedish Armed Forces in 1988 with the Bofors RBS 56 BILL top-attack anti-tank missile.[1]