Swingfire

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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
mechanism
 Impact
Engine Solid rocket motor
Wingspan 0.39 m
Operational
range
 150 - 4,000 m
Flight ceiling n/a
Speed 185 m/s
Guidance
system
 Wire, MCLOS/SACLOS
Steering
system
 Thrust Vector Control
Launch
platform
 Vehicle

Swingfire was a British wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993.[1]

Development

Swingfire was developed by Fairey Engineering Ltd and the British Aircraft Corporation. It replaced the Vickers Vigilant missile in British service. Its design incorporated elements from 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 could 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:

  • FV712, Mk 5 Ferret with 4 missiles in use with the British Army
  • 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][needs update]

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

Map with Swingfire operators in blue and former operators in red
External images
SWINGFIRE
image icon STRIKER firing Swingfire
image icon BEESWING firing Swingfire - missile making turn that gave it its name
image icon GOLFSWING dismounted firing Swingfire
image icon STRIKER crew with dismounted firing post in hiding
image icon Swingfire cut-away illustration

Current operators

 Egypt
Egyptian Army [7]
  • Swingfire missiles were also produced in Egypt under license by Arab-British Dynamics.[8]
 Iraq
[9]
 Kenya
Kenyan Army[1]
 Nigeria
Nigerian Army[10]
 Qatar
[1]
 Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian Army[1]
Ferret Mk 5 at The Tank Museum, Bovington
 Sudan
SPAF [9][11]

Former operators

 Belgium
Belgian Army [1]
 Portugal
Portuguese Army
  • Used on the Chaimite armoured fighting vehicle, now retired.
 United Kingdom
British Army
 Iran
Iranian Army[12]

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.[13] The warheads, with a total explosive weight equivalent to 64.2 kg of TNT,[14] were never located.[15]

See also

Notes and references

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External links

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 [1][dead link]
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ [2][dead link]
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 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).
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 [3] Archived January 25, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ https://books.google.se/books?id=fhnixhMQqW8C&pg=PA250&lpg=PA250&dq=ENTAC+iran&source=bl&ots=gheOmn4uNS&sig=dzo7EfDC8L0AXzbte6S3mc1TvdM&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi505iQuovKAhXhl3IKHfnrCWkQ6AEISDAG#v=onepage&q=ENTAC%20iran&f=false
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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