Sea Dart missile

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Sea Dart or Guided Weapon System (GWS) 30 is a British surface-to-air missile system designed by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and built by British Aerospace (BAe). It has been fitted to Type 42 and Type 82 guided missile air defence destroyers and Invincible class light aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy.

Contents

1 History
2 Design
3 Combat Service

3.1 Falklands War
3.2 Gulf War (1991)

4 Withdrawal
5 See also

History

Sea Dart began as Hawker Siddeley project CF.299, a weapon to replace the Royal Navy's first generation long-range surface-to-air missile, the Sea Slug. It entered service in 1973 on the sole Type 82 destroyer HMS Bristol before widespread deployment on the Type 42 destroyer. The missile system was also fitted to Invincible class aircraft carrier but was removed during refits in the 1998-2000 period to increase the area of the flight deck and below-decks stowage associated with the operation of RAF Harrier GR9 aircraft.

Design

Sea Dart is a two-stage, 4.4 m long missile weighing 550 kg. It is launched using a drop-off Chow solid-fueled booster that accelerates it to the supersonic speed necessary for the operation of the cruise motor, a Bristol Aerojet kerosene-fueled Odin ramjet. This gives a cruise speed of over Mach 2.5, and unlike many rocket powered designs the cruise engine burns for the entire flight, giving excellent terminal manouverability at extreme range. It is capable of engaging targets out to at least 30 nautical miles over a wide range of altitudes.

Guidance is by semi-active radar homing, with targets being identified by a radar Type 1022 (originally radar Type 965) and illuminated by 1 of a pair of radar Type 909. This allows two targets to be engaged simultaneously. Firing is from a twin-arm trainable launcher that is loaded automatically from below decks. The original launcher seen on the Bristol was significantly larger than that that appeared on the Type 42 and Invincible classes.

Combat Service

Falklands War

Sea Dart was used during the Falklands War and is credited with 7 confirmed kills (plus one British Gazelle helicopter by friendly fire). One kill was against a high-flying Learjet reconnaissance aircraft beyond the missiles stated technical envelope. Other kills were made against low-flying attack aircraft. However, it was found to be unsuitable when operating close inshore as it was unable to lock onto targets at distance obscured by land and fast-moving low-level targets obscured in ground clutter or sea-returns. These shortcomings were more damning of the Type 42 destroyer than Sea Dart itself, as the former were fitted with obsolete 1950s-era radar Type 965 and had no other defence against aircraft apart from a pair of World War 2-vintage 20 mm guns.

Sea Dart on HMS Invincible

Gulf War (1991)

In February 1991 during the first Gulf War the battleship USS Missouri, escorted by the Sea Dart carrying HMS Gloucester and the Phalanx CIWS-equipped USS Jarrett, was engaged by an Iraqi Silkworm missile (also known as a Seersucker). After an unsuccessful response from the Phalanx 20 mm CIWS of Jarrett, the missile was intercepted by a Sea Dart fired from Gloucester, making this the first validated, successful engagement of a missile by a missile during combat at sea.

Withdrawal

The Sea Dart equipped Type 42s are reaching the end of their service lives, with some vessels already retired. Construction has begun on the Type 45 class which, with the much more capable PAAMS missile system, will replace the Type 42 from 2009.