Jaguar Jagdpanzer

"We are Jagdpanzer goddamnit, and we hate you."

– Anonymous Wermacht Jagdpanzer radio operator, Company of Heroes

A Jaguar 1 ...

... & A Jaguar 2

Boy, those Germans certainly like their turretless TDs (Tank Destroyers) don't they? The krauts still hadn't quite gotten over their enthusiasm for TDs when the Cold War rolled around and though they finally realized that guns were better mounted in tanks, the Germans had the bright idea of mounting ATGMs instead. Hence, the Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar, or just the Jaguar for those who don't care to try to pronounce a 10 syllable name.

In Team Yankee

Das Stats

Both versions of the Jaguar Jagdpanzer are capable but overcosted tank hunters in Team Yankee, with the differences being minimal. Adapted from the Jagdpanzer 90mm chassis, the Jaguar 2 uses the older I-TOW ATGM and employs a manual loading system with a poor guy loading fresh missiles from the hatch. Conversely, Jaguar 1 uses the HOT missile along with a mechanical autoloader.

Jaguar 2s are part of the Marder panzergrenadier Kompanie and cost 3 points for two or 5 points for three.

Jaguar 1s are part of the Leopard 2 Panzer Kompanie and cost 4 points for two or 6 points for three.

With the Leopard 2's forte in anti-armor engagements, the Jaguar 1 can be considered redundant. However, the Jaguar 2 has a niche role in the panzergrenadier Kompanie: plinking at enemy armor alongside Milan missile teams.

Ultimately, there is little reason to bring in Jaguars. Given West Germany's assortment of anti-armor options in more efficient packages like the Tornado or the Milan, it can be considered a fluff choice at best and qualifies for the 1/5 slot, given its fragility and high-cost inefficiency.

IRL

A pair of Austrian Jaguars on exercise

As you can imagine, after their experience in world war 2 with successful vehicles such as the Stug, Hetzer and Jagdpanzer, German designers did not completely reject the turret less tank destroyer the way most other nations did after the war. This is why in the cold war the West Germans developed the (not in team Yankee yet) Kanonenjagdpanzer which was armed with a Patton's 90mm cannon. However when the Soviets started to deploy T-64's and T-72's, the 90mm proved too light to be useful, which may go some way to explain why the Kanonen is AWOL in team yankee at this moment. To compensate for this deficiency the Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar was developed to mount the French developed HOT missile which was exponentially more powerful than the old 90mm.

However, now that the new Jaguar was in use, the Bundeswher was left with a bunch of the old Kanonenjagdpanzers that were now obsolete. Rather than scrap the lot, these vehicles were converted into Jaguar 2s by yanking out the 90mm and mounting the American made TOW missile system, which was less capable than the HOT missile, but required less specialized fire controls.