- Swingfire
-
Swingfire Type Anti-tank missile Place of origin United Kingdom Service history Used by See text Production history Produced 1966-1993 Number built 46,650 [1] Specifications Weight 27 kg Length 1.07 m Diameter 0.17 m Warhead 7 kg HEAT Detonation
mechanismImpact Engine Solid rocket motor Wingspan 0.39 m Operational
range150 - 4,000 m Flight ceiling n/a Speed 185 m/s Guidance
systemWire, MCLOS/SACLOS Steering
systemThrust Vector Control Launch
platformVehicle Swingfire was a British wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993.[1]
Contents
Development
Swingfire was developed by Fairey Engineering Ltd and the British Aircraft Corporation. It replaced the Vickers Vigilant missile in British service. It was a product of both its predecessor the Vigilant and the experimental Orange William missile.
The name comes from the ability of the missile to make a rapid turn of up to ninety degrees after firing to bring it onto the line of the sighting mechanism. This means that the launcher vehicle can be concealed and the operator, using a portable sight, placed at a distance in a more advantageous firing position.
Besides its use on the FV438 Swingfire and the Striker armoured vehicles, Swingfire was developed to be launched from other platforms:
- Beeswing - on a Land Rover
- Hawkswing - on a Lynx helicopter [1]
- Golfswing - on a small trolley or Argocat vehicle.
Combat history
Swingfire has seen combat use in the Gulf War [2] and the Iraq War.
Replacement in British Army
After a lengthy debate, the Swingfire was replaced with the Javelin in mid-2005 to meet new and changing situational requirements. The British Army invested heavily in the Javelin, and it is now the main heavy anti-tank missile system in use by the British Army.[3][4]
Specification
- Diameter: 170 mm
- Wingspan: 0.39 m
- Length: 1.07 m
- Weight: 27 kg
- Warhead: 7 kg HEAT
- Range: 150 m to 4000 m
- Velocity: 185 m/s [1]
- Guidance: Wire-guided, originally MCLOS, later upgraded to SACLOS, in which form the system is known as SWIG (Swingfire With Improved Guidance).[1]
- Steering: Thrust Vectored Control (TVC)
- Penetration: 800 mm RHA[5]
- Unit cost: £7,500 [6]
Operators
- Swingfire missiles were also produced in Egypt under license by Arab-British Dynamics.[8]
Iraq- [9]
Kenya- Kenyan Army[1]
Nigeria- Nigerian Army[10]
Portugal- Portuguese Army
- Used on the Chaimite armoured fighting vehicle, now retired.
Ferret Mk 5 at the Bovington Tank Museum
- FV102 Striker - 5 in ready-to-fire bins.
- FV438 Swingfire - Two firing bins
- Ferret Mk 5 - Four firing bins.
Decommissioning problems
Swingfire inadvertently became the subject of questions in the Houses of Parliament in March 2002 when 20 warheads, removed for decommissioning, were washed into the Bristol Channel along with 8 anti-tank mines.[12] The warheads, with a total explosive weight equivalent to 64.2 kg of TNT,[13] were never located.[14]
See also
Media related to Swingfire missiles at Wikimedia Commons- CVR(T)
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Swingfire - Forecast International
- ^ Britain's Small Wars - Gulf Units
- ^ MOD press release
- ^ Javelin - Army Technology
- ^ Stephen Bull, Encyclopedia of military technology and innovation, 2004, Westport: Greenwood Press, p. 257. Other sources have noted the penetration as "up to 2ft thick" (~610-mm).
- ^ everything2.com
- ^ Global Security
- ^ ABD - Global Security
- ^ a b NTI: Country Overviews: Egypt
- ^ http://www.armyrecognition.com/nigeria/nigeria_armee_nigeriane_forces_terrestres_equipements_vehicules_blindes_militaires_information_descr.html
- ^ Sudan, Civil War since 1955
- ^ Hansard
- ^ Hansard
- ^ MoD gives up on lost warheads
External links
- RAF Museum
- Global Defence
- Astronautix
- Skomer
- RAF Museum
- Live firing photo gallery, Strikers on German ranges, 1979
- Swingfire video
Guided missiles of the United Kingdom Air-to-air 
Air-to-surface Surface-to-air Bloodhound · Blowpipe · Javelin · Rapier · Sea Cat · Sea Dart · Sea Slug · Sea Viper · Sea Wolf · Starburst · Starstreak · Tigercat · Thunderbird
Surface-to-surface Nuclear Blue Steel · Blue Streak · Blue Water · Green Cheese
1 Anglo-French 2 Anglo-Australian Categories:- Anti-tank missiles of the United Kingdom
- Cold War anti-tank missiles
- Vehicle weapons
- British Aircraft Corporation
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