MGM - 166 LOSAT The MGM - 166 LOSAT ( Line - of - Sight Anti - Tank ) was a U . S . surface - to - surface missile system designed by Lockheed Martin ( originally Vought ) to defeat tank s and other individual targets . Instead of using a High Explosive Anti - Tank warhead like other anti - tank missiles , the LOSAT employed a solid steel kinetic energy penetrator to punch through armor . The LOSAT is fairly light ; it was designed to be mounted onto a Humvee while allowing the vehicle to remain air - portable . LOSAT eventually emerged on an extended - length heavy - duty Humvee with a hard - top containing four KEMs used by special operations . Although LOSAT never " officially " entered service , it was used for the smaller Compact Kinetic Energy Missile . History . HVM . LOSAT developed out on an earlier Vought project , the HVM . HVM was a multi - platform weapon supported by the US Air Force for their A - 10 , and by the US Army and US Marine Corps for helicopters and other vehicles . HVM offered performance similar to existing systems like the AGM - 114 Hellfire , but offered a semi - fire - and - forget operation through the use of FLIR tracking and guidance commands sent to it via a low - power laser . It could be carried on any platform that had FLIR support , with the self - contained command guidance system able to be carried externally , or potentially integrated into existing target designators . The ending of the Cold War led to the Air Force pulling out of the project , and development work on HVM appears to have ended in the late 1980s . AAWS - H . At about the same time , in 1988 , the Army released a new requirement for a ground - based anti - tank system , known as Advanced Anti - Tank Weapon System - Heavy , or AAWS - H for short . AAWS - H specified an air - liftable lightweight system with the capability to knock out any existing or near - future tank outside its own gun range . The TOW missile could be guided from concealed locations , but did not offer the needed range and its relatively slow flight speeds ( ~ 250 m / s as opposed to 1650 for HVM ) left it vulnerable while the missile was in - flight . To fill AAWS - H , Vought developed a slightly larger extended - range version of HVM known as KEM ( Kinetic Energy Missile ) , while their partner , Texas Instruments , provided a new FLIR targeting system that they were already working on as a TOW upgrade . Several vehicles were studied to mount the system , including the front - runner M2 Bradley , as well as the M8 Armored Gun System . However , in order to lower costs and improve airmobility in a post - Cold War world , LOSAT eventually emerged on an extended - length heavy - duty Humvee with a hard - top containing four KEMs ready to fire , along with a trailer containing another eight rounds in two - round packs . The new guidance system could keep two missiles in flight to separate targets , allowing the vehicle to salvo fire its weapons against a tank squadron in a few seconds . Reaching speeds of 5 , 000 ft / s , LOSAT was in the air for under four seconds between launch and maximum range targets , making counterfire extremely difficult . The range was beyond that of existing main tank guns , allowing the LOSAT to fire and move before the tanks could maneuver into a position to return fire . The first KEMs were test fired in 1990 and a contract for continued development was placed by the Army . This was much slower in pace , and it was only in 1997 that an Advanced Technology Concept Demonstrator program started to bring the system to production quality . The contract called for 12 LOSAT vehicles and 144 KEMs , which were to be delivered by 2003 . Even before this contract was complete , the Army asked for a production run of another 108 missiles In August 2002 . The first of the 12 LOSAT units was delivered to the US Army in October 2002 and the system began a series of 18 production - qualification test firings in August 2003 , at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico . By March 2004 18 KEMs had been fired at targets under a variety of conditions , both during the day and night . Another 8 were fired in the summer of 2004 at Fort Bliss as part of a user - testing exercise . Cancellation . By the time the test program was finished it was obvious the Army was going to cancel LOSAT after the low - rate initial production ( LRIP ) batch of about 435 missiles was delivered . By this point the Army had already started work on a system known as the Compact Kinetic Energy Missile ( or CKEM ) , based on the LOSAT concepts but smaller and lighter , more in tune with real - world threats . As it turned out , even the LRIP contract was never funded , and the LOSAT program terminated .