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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 3594.PDF
1600 MISSILE FORCES OF THE WORLD into service in the near future. Three regiments operate Hawk or Improved Hawk: 401e RA (Nimes), 402te RA (Chalons-sur-Marne) and 403e RA (Chaumont). Each has four six-launcher batteries. Navy The heaviest vessel to carry missiles is the cruiser Colbert, with a single Masurca launcher and a magazine capacity of 48 rounds. Four MM.38 Exocets will be fitted later. Six MM.38s are carried by the helicopter carrier Jeanne D'Arc, which will also be fitted with a Naval Ootale system during the next refit. The planned PA 75 nuclear- powered .aircraft carriers will have two Naval Crotale installations for point defence. Twelve destroyers carry the1 Malafon anti-submarine weapon. La Galissonniere, Aconit and five T47-class vessels carry no> other 'missiles, although Aconit is due to receive a number of MM.38s. Tourville, Duguay-Trouin and De Grasse also carry six MM.38s, and the last-named is due to be fitted with a single Naval Crotale system. Suffren and Duquesne each have a twin-rail Masurca' launcher and 48 rounds. The remaining missile-armed destroyers carry an assortment of weapons. Four T47-class ships each have a single Mk 13 Tartar launcher and 40 rounds, Duperre carries four MM.38s, while the new Georges Leygues class will carry four MM.38s and a single Naval Crotale. Four units are being built and two more are planned. At least three units of an antiaircraft version are also planned; these will be armed with the Standard MR 1 or MR 2. Eight Commandant Riuiere-class frigates carry four MM. 38s, and vessels of the new A69 class currently enter ing service will be fitted with two MM.38s if destined for overseas service. The FPB La Combattante is armed with a single quad SS.ll launcher. The naval air arm's F-8E(FN) Crusaders can carry Side winder, R.530 and Magic, while Breguet Atlantic units are equipped with radar-homing Martels and Exocet. AS.20 and AS.30 arm the Etendard squadrons, AS.12 the Alizes. Air Force Mirage Ills and F.ls can carry Sidewinder, R.530 or Magic, and the snap-up/snap-down Super 530 is being developed for the latter aircraft. Fighter-bomber versions of the Mirage III/5 can deliver AS.20, AS.30 and anti-radar Martel. The Anglo-French weapon also arms the Jaguar. Deliveries of 20 Crotale systems are virtually complete. GERMANY (EAST) Army A single brigade is armed with 16 Scud-B, while 18 Frog 7 launchers provide firepower at shorter ranges. All three Russian anti-tank missiles are in service, although the older AT-1 Snapper has probably been largely sup planted by the AT-2 Swatter and AT-3 Sagger. Anti-aircraft units have the SA-4 and SA-7. Navy Twelve Osa I FPBs carry Styx anti-ship missiles. Air Force The large MiG-21 force is Atoll-equipped, while two anti-aircraft battalions operate the SA-2 Guideline. GERMANY (WEST) Army The first of 26 Lance launchers have been issued to a training battery of RakArtLehrBtl 72 and to RakArt- Btl 250; the remainder will be used to re-equip RakArtBtl 150, 350 and 650, which currently use Sergeant. Honest John has probably been phased out, being of limited use fulness on the modern battlefield. Raketen Jagdpanzer armoured vehicles are armed with SS.ll, Jager battalions carry Milan, while airborne anti-tank companies use Hot. The latter missile should also enter service at the end of the decade on the PAH-1 anti-tank helicopters. Cobra and Harpon are also in service, and the Cobra-replacement Mamba is now in production. The 1,400 Redeye missiles used for forward air defence will be supplemented by the 143 Marder-mounted Roland II systems now on order. Navy The destroyers Lutjens, Molders and Rommel are equipped with one Tartar launcher plus one for eight Asroc. Four Hambwrg-class destroyers are to be fitted with MM.38 Exocet. Twenty Type 148 FPBs are in service, each armed with four MM.38s. The same armament will be carried1 by ten Type 143 FPBs currently entering service FLIGHT International, 26 November (977 and by ten Type 162 fast attack hydrofoils on order from Boeing. Sea Sparrow is on order. Marinefiieger F-104Gs carry the AS.20 and AS.30 at present, and the first Kormoran deliveries are under way. The Atlantic force is equipped1 with AS.12. Air Force Eight squadrons each operate nine Pershing missiles, the nuclear warheads of which remain under US control. More than 400 anti-aircraft missiles are in service: a 50:50 mixture of Hawk (36 batteries) and Nike Hercules (24 batteries). Luftwaffe fighter squadrons use Sidewinder on the F-104G and F-4F and AS.30 on the F-104. A require ment for Maverick has been reported, and negotiations for AIM-9L are under way to arm the F-4F and possibly later the Tornado. GREAT BRITAIN Strategic Forces Submarines Renown, Repulse, Resolution and Revenge each carry 16 US-supplied Polaris A3 with UK-developed warheads. An upgrading programme to fit six 40KT reentry vehicles to each A3 is almost complete. Army After years of comparative neglect the British Army is back in the missile business, with modern weapons replacing obsolete equipment. No one could call Swingfire or Rapier out of date, of course, but a number of distinctly passe systems have been replaced or are about to go. Few tears can; have been, shed over the departure of Honest John or the impending replacement of AS.ll. For many years the army has been without a useful tactical missile, but the gap left more than a decade ago by the cancellation of Blue Water has been made good by Lance, which is now in service with 50 Missile Regiment in Ger many. The long-awaited AS.ll replacement will he Tow; Lynx helicopters will carry eight rounds. Swingfire remains operational on FV 438 armoured personnel carriers and Ferret Scout cars; the version mounted on the Striker light tank is now coming into service. The smaller Vigilant remains in service with the infantry and on Ferret scout cars land Shorland armoured patrol oars, First deliveries of Milan from the Euromissile production fine have begun. British-built rounds should become available around the end1 of the decade. Thunderbird, which formerly equipped the Royal Artillery's 36 Heavy Regiment, was phased out several months ago, but two Light Regiments, 12 and 22, are fully equipped with Rapier. A third, 16 (Light), is scheduled to do so in the near future. Blowpipe is in service with the Royal Artillery and will soon become operational with the Royal Marines and Territorial Army. Navy A large number of Royal Navy ships rely on Seacat for anti-aircraft defence. Two quad launchers are mounted aboard the ASW carrier Hermes, the assault ship Fearless, cruisers Blake and Tiger, seven County-class guided-mis- sile destroyers, seven Tribal-class frigates, and several of the 16 Leander-class frigates. The remaining Leanders have a single quad mounting, as do the nine Rotfiesay-class, one Saiisbury-class and eight or more Type 21 Amazon- class frigates. The long-range Seaslug area-defence weapon is carried by the seven County-class vessels mentioned above. Antrim, Fife, Glamorgan and Norfolk have Seaslug Mk 2 and four MM.38 Exooets in place of the "B" turret; Devonshire, Kent and London have no Exocets and still carry the older Seaslug 1. A fourth Seaslug 1 vessel, Hampshire, was paid off in April 1976. A single twin-rail launcher for the later Sea Dart is installed aboard the single Type 82 destroyer Bristol, the Type 42 Sheffield-class destroyers (five in service and six more on order) and will be fitted to the Invincible-class anti-submarine cruisers. Eight of the Leanders are being converted to carry Ikara in place of the existing gun turret, the remaining eight to oarry MM.38 missiles' in the same location, Seawolf is on order for the Type 22 Broadsword-class frigates, which will also carry MM.38. Unless there have been any un announced changes of heart by the RN, these vessels will be the first all-missile major warships in British service. SubrHarpoon has been ordered for RN attack submarines, and P3T plus AIM-9L Super Sidewinder for the Sea Harrier V/Stol aircraft. Sea Skua is under development to arm Lynx helicopters.. Air Force Two squadrons, 25 and 85, operate Bloodhound 2 from a number of sites in Germany and the UK. German-
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