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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 3211.PDF
The Sistei Marte anti-ship missile installation is now being tested in the Agusta SH-3D helicopter and should be ready next year Space Keeping alive may not be a problem for Selenia's tiny Space Division, but fluctuating manpower levels are. At present about 130 personnel are involved in this work, compared with a peak of 158 three years ago. The present level is about the minimum for efficient operation. Main workload is antenna design for the Intelsat IV and V communications satellites, plus design, manufacture and testing of the telemetry transmitter, command receiver and ranging transponder for Intelsat V. Sistei A FEW days before Flight's visit to the company's head quarters in Rome, a redistribution of the shares gave 30 per cent each to Fiat, Montedison and Oto Melara, and the remaining ten per cent to SNIA. Sistei has no large- scale production facilities of its own, making only proto types and pre-production equipment while retaining quality control of all external production lines. Indigo-MEI After a long series of trials by the Italian Army, which carried out more than 120 firings, the design of Indigo was effectively frozen for production earlier this year. Sistei considers that the protracted development programme has allowed significant improvements to be embodied, boosting the radar performance in the presence of ground clutter and increasing resistance to hostile countermeasures and the ability to handle saturation attacks. The weapon is expected to become operational in 1982. Marte/Mariner/Sea Killer Evaluation of this helicopter- launched anti-ship missile is now under way at the Salto di Quirra range in Sardinia. Qualification trials are ex pected to end next year and the weapon should be avail able for production in 1980. The lighter Mariner version is intended for use on gun boats or hydrofoils. All-up weight of the complete two- round system is less than 3,5001b, and Sistei is carrying out studies of a land-based variant for coastal defence. Being small in size, it could be mounted on a single vehicle or shelter. The original Sea Killer Mk 2 remains in production and is in service with the Iranian and Italian navies. New projects Studies of a man-portable SAM are being carried out in conjunction with Italian and foreign com panies. Sistei is also co-operating with Oto Melara on a new anti-ship weapon, but has no plans for other classes of missile. Oto Melara FIRST established in 1905 by Terni and Vickers to manu facture guns for the Italian Army and Navy, Oto Melara remains a large-scale producer of tanks and guns. Missiles form only a small part of the company's output, which is dominated by tanks such as the German-designed Leopard, towed and self-propelled howitzers, and naval guns and their mountings. The company did build US M60 tanks under licence, but these were gun-armed versions rather than the M60A2 missile-firing variant. The company employs 2,340 staff at its plant near La Spezia, where about six per cent of the total man-hours are spent on research and development. In the last finan cial year sales rose by 70 per cent to L117,400 million (about £71-5 million). Orders received last year totalled L153,000 million (about £93 million), while the final profit was Ll,238 million (about £754,000). In March this year the capital stock was raised from L4,500 million to L12,600 million (about £7-8 million). Otomat The first production-standard Otomat Mk 2 was successfully test-fired in January this year. The Italian Navy version, known as Teseo, relies on a helicopter, probably an A.109 or a 212 fitted with a TG-2 radio link, for mid-course guidance on full-range missions. Vanessa A comparatively large subsonic naval point- defence missile is reported to be under development by an industrial team led by Oto Melara. Radar command- to-line-of-sight guidance will be coupled with an advanced design of proximity fuze and a large warhead. Target date for entry into service is thought to be the late 1980s. New anti-ship missile Oto Melara is working in conjunc tion with Sistei on a supersonic over-the-horizon weapon. Some elements of the abandoned Sea Killer Mk 3 may be embodied in the design. Although attempts are being made to keep the weapon as simple as possible to cut cost, the range envisaged will call for a missile in the Otomat class.
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