The ENTAC was replaced by the MILAN, another ATGW with a name derived from a French sentence! MILAN could be fired from either the ground or from a vehicle. The missiles in their launch tubes, carried in a rack at the rear of this modified Land Rover, are locked into the launcher mounted in the centre of the vehicle before firing. The Land Rover is one of 69 extensively modified to carry the 106mm M40A1 recoilless rifle, but has been adapted by 5/7RAR (Mech) to carry the MILAN.

In the Cold War period, rocket technology forged ahead as the area that showed the most promise in anti-tank weapons. Recoilless guns, while lightweight and offering a high degree of lethality when compared to their conventional artillery counterparts, did not offer the same developmental promise as the missile, especially one that could be guided all the way to its target.

Guidance systems had seen great advances during the Second World War, especially in Germany. In the post-war period, Australia further developed anti-tank guided weapons (ATGW) technology which resulted in the Malkara ATGW, a missile that was lethal to any tank then known. The Australian Army, however, considered its deployment to South East Asia unlikely, so declined to purchase the system.

In 1962, the Australian Army commenced trials of the French ENTAC T581 ATGW, a light weight and relatively cheap missile system. It derived its name from the contraction of the French description Engin Teleguide Anti-Char, and consisted of a shaped charge warhead containing 1.9 kg of high explosive mounted by a bayonet-type connection to a gyroscopically stabilized, four winged missile with a solid propellant motor. The firing impulse detonated a small charge in the head of an electrolyte container housed in the launcher, which forced the electrolyte into the battery in the missile. This then energised and fired the missile motor, the whole sequence taking about 1 second. As the missile left the launcher, the gyroscope was run up by a cord attached to the launcher box, and once the missile was clear, the missile rotated 45 degrees until the wings were oriented vertical and horizontal.

The missile was guided in flight by the operator, who would view the target through an optical sight while using a joystick controller. Commands were transmitted to the missile as electrical pulses along two wires, spooled out from the body of the missile during flight. ENTAC served the Australian Army from 1964 to 1982, when it was replaced by the MILAN ATGW. A French-German missile, Milan derives its name from Missile d’infanterie leger antichar. It has a semi-automatic command to line-of-sight system (SACLOS), which means the missile will fly to the launcher’s point of aim. Like ENTAC, MILAN was designed to be both man-packed and vehicle mounted, with both systems being mounted on short wheel base Land Rover General Service vehicles in Australian service. With a range from 400 to 2000 metres, the ENTAC and MILAN ATGW covered the all-important range beyond the unguided 66mm M72 SRAAW and the 84mm L14A1 MRAAW.

By the mid-1990s, a new and more versatile ATGW was under consideration: the FGM-148 Javelin. Built by the American consortium of Raytheon-Lockheed Martin, the Javelin took ATGW technology to a new level, with selective attack modes of either ‘direct’, which is useful against lighter weight vehicles including helicopters, fortifications and buildings or ‘top’, where the missile’s flight profile brings it down onto the more lightly armoured top of a tank, rather than against the more heavily armoured sides. It is a ‘fire and forget’ missile which is locked onto a target before launch, and automatically guides itself to the target after firing. With nearly 8.5 kg of high explosive in a tandem shaped-charge warhead, Javelin is particularly lethal to armoured vehicles, even those with spaced armour. It is currently on issue within the Australian Army, and is deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The French ENTAC was the Australian Army's first Anti Tank Guided Weapon. It could be fired from the ground, or vehicle mounted. Australia experimented with several configurations on various vehicles, including Ferret Scout Cars and 1/4 ton Land Rovers. The missiles are shown in the firing position, with the joystick controller visible in the passenger side of the cabin. In travelling mode, the missile launchers are rotated and locked into the rear of the vehicle.