Specifications
Designer: Yu Fang of Military Special Weapons Bureau
Designed: 2006
Manufacturer: Minroz North Industries Corporation
Produced: 2008- present
Specifications
Weight: 5.9 kg
Length: Missile: 1.1 m
Launch tube: 1.3 m
Diameter: Missile: 127 mm
Launch tube: 213 mm
Crew: 1
Sights: Low-power targeting scope
Effective range: 75 to 4000 m
Warhead: Tandem shaped charge HEAT
Warhead weight: 5.6 kg
Detonation Mechanism: Impact force
Engine: Solid fuel rocket
Guidance system: Infrared homing
Overview
Shortly after the Omaskan Guardian Rocket Launcher appeared in prototype form, Minrozian analysts realized just how earthshaking the implications were of a man-portable missile that could engage every vehicle, at dynamically determined trajectories. Imperial scientists immediately set about to steal one of these weapons so as to make their own version. Interestingly when they finally did manage to get one of the missiles, it was nearly useless to them as the guardian's critical advances were almost entirely software-based, hard-coded on the weapon's circuit board. First Minrozian engineers tried to simply duplicate the circuitry of the core chips. This did let them produce a weapon; unfortunately (for them) it had a bad habit of attacking their own vehicles during test shots.
After a number of years - and a very expensive combination of hacking of the weapon's circuit board, stealing electronic secrets and old-fashioned spying and bribery - the Minrozians managed to break the core secrets of the weapon's guidance system and were soon producing their own version. Their missile appeared suddenly in the red star arsenal with, naturally, almost no bugs (those having already been worked out by Omaskan engineers). Minrozian analysts named the weapon the SAAT1 - a combination of the former NATO-code names for Soviet/Russian surface-to-air missiles ('SA') and anti-tank missiles ('AT'); being the first of its kind it was number 1, now the modern variant 8. In one full swoop the Imperial SA16 air defence and the AT20 anti-tank guided missiles were made obsolete by this new weapon, which was issued immediately to all frontline units.