HOT (missile)

The HOT (French: Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube, or High Subsonic, Optical, Remote-Guided, Tube-Launched) is a second-generation long-range anti-tank guided missile system. It was developed originally to replace the older SS.11 wire guided missile in French and West German service. It was jointly developed by French company Nord Aviation and the West German Bölkow. Nord Aviation and Bölkow would later merged with other companies to respectively form Aérospatiale and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB).

In comparison to the SS.11, HOT has longer range, flies faster, and is semi-automatically guided instead of manually. It has become one of the most successful missiles of its class, with tens of thousands of missiles produced, used by no fewer than a dozen countries worldwide, and validated in combat in several wars. The missile system is also commonly mounted on light and medium armored vehicles, and attack helicopters.

HOT entered limited production in 1976, with mass production of 800 missiles a month reached in 1978. HOT initially became operational with the French and West German armies fitted to specialized armored antitank vehicles. In addition, Euromissile received large export orders from Middle East nations at the start of mass production. This was likely due to the situation in the late 1970s where many nations did not want to rely solely on arms purchases from the Soviet Union, combined with the U.S. Congress restrictions on the export sales of the TOW antitank guided missile.

In Europe, the end of the service life of the HOT missile system is in sight with the French opting to purchase Hellfire II missiles for their Tiger-HAD attack helicopters and the Germans planning to transition to the PARS 3 LR. Austria has decommissioned its HOT-carrying tank destroyers, while Spain is transitioning to Spike missiles to replace their HOT missile inventory. The HOT missile continues to be in widespread use in other areas of the world.