[relaxing]

> There's various stories of how tank-commanders saw an enemy's ATGM, fires back with the main cannon, and pops their thermal-smoke grenades to avoid the missile.

I call bullshit. Yes, a Javelin at maximum range takes 10 seconds to arrive, and that theoretically gives the turret time to traverse to target and return fire… Assuming the commander saw the puff of smoke appear and reacts instantly… with perfect knowledge of the distance of the engagement… and full confidence his countermeasures will be 100% effective…

Naw. Too big a risk to take out 2 dudes who just expended their only means to hurt you, and are already on the move anyway. His attached units can go after the ATGM squad.

[dragontamer]

Javelin? Not quite. But yes for sure with M47 Dragon systems. (Especially back then, if you killed the guy aiming the missile, the missile will almost certainly miss).

In any case, Javelin is thermal imaging and thermal smoke probably works as a countermeasure.

The speed of ATGMs is a major downside in any case, leaving room to react and for smoke countermeasures.