AS.12

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AS.12

Variant SS.12
Variant SS.12

General Information
Type wire-guided air-to-surface missile or anti-ship missile
Local name AS.12
Country of origin France
Manufacturer Nord Aviation
development from 1957
Commissioning 1960
Unit price approx £ 3000 (1968)
approx $ 76,000 (1987)
Technical specifications
length 1870 mm
diameter 210 mm
Combat weight 76 kg
span 650 mm
Drive
First stage
Second stage 		Solid rocket
motor booster (1.8 sec. Burn time)
Solid rocket motor (30 sec. Burn time)
speed 724 - 900 km / h
Range up to 8 km (AS.12)
822 - 5500 m (SS-12M)
75 - 4000 m (SS-12)
Furnishing
steering manually
Target location manually
Warhead 28 kg
Detonator surcharge
Weapon platforms Helicopter, airplane, patrol boat, speedboat
Lists on the subject

The AS.12 is a manually guided air-to - surface missile made in France . SS.12M is the version of an anti- ship missile to be launched from ships . The manufacturer is Nord Aviation (now EADS ).

development

Planned as the successor to the SS.11 , development of the AS.12 began in 1957. Almost two years later, in 1959, the first flight of a prototype took place. Production of the SS.12 started in 1975. Production ended in 1982 for all versions of the AS.12.

variants

  • AS.12: Version for shooting down helicopters or airplanes
  • SS.12: floor-to-floor version of the AS.12
  • SS.12M: Naval version of the SS.12 for launching ships

technology

A single two-wire signal cable is used for the signal transmission of control commands from the launch platform to the missile (AS.12, SS.12). Because of this cable, the range is limited. With the AS.12 this can be up to 8 km. The ground-based variants have a shorter range with a maximum of 5.5 km. The cable kept causing problems by tearing it off completely.

The SS.12M (M for Navy) is a further development of the AS.12, which was used from ships. It is installed on ships in permanently mounted containers of up to 8 pieces on the deck. The development was initiated and also marketed by Nord Aviation and the British shipyard Vosper & Company .

All variants have the same booster, which has a burn time of around 1.8 seconds. The solid rocket motor then ignites with a maximum burn time of 30 seconds. With the AS.12, the warhead ignites immediately on impact. With the SS.12M this does not happen until about 1.82 m after the point of impact and thus ensures a high degree of destruction inside the ship.

commitment

On April 24, during the Falklands War , the British Royal Navy tried to attack the Argentine submarine, the ARA Santa Fe (ex-USS Catfish (SS-339) of the US Balao-class ). One day later, the submarine was located and then damaged in an attack with helicopters, machine-gun fire and AS.12 guided missiles. The tail fin and the pressure hull were damaged so that it had to retreat to the south Georgian coast, unable to dive, where it was abandoned. The occupation surrendered to the British forces. As the war continued, a British Westland Wessex attacked Port Stanley Town Hall with two AS.12s. One missed its target and hit the police building instead, the second malfunctioned and stayed with the helicopter.

Countries of operation

The AS.12 and SS.12M have been exported to over 20 countries and some have already been taken out of service. The status in some countries has to be classified as unknown.

Flag of Abu Dhabi.svg Abu Dhabi

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi had 1000 AS.12 delivered for their Aérospatiale SA-316 in 1975.

Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina

Argentina's military has 48 AS.12, these were procured for the SA-319 Alouette III in the years 1969–1974.

Flag of Germany.svg Germany

France delivered 100 AS.12s to the Bundeswehr in 1964 .

Flag of Côte d'Ivoire.svg Ivory Coast

Since the Ivory Coast does not have an independent navy and its establishment has not been carried out consistently, the status of the 24 SS.12M, which were intended for the two Patra class speedboats (L'Ardent, L'Intrepide) delivered by France in 1978, is unclear.

Flag of France.svg France

Used the AS.12 and SS.12 The AS.12 was replaced by the AS.15TT .

Flag of Greece.svg Greece

In 1975 32 AS.12s were delivered and used on the Aérospatiale AS-319. Later Greece received an unknown number of SS.12M.

Flag of Iran.svg Iran

Between 1970 and 1975, Iran bought 1000 SS.12 and 480 AS.12 in two tranches . Due to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the First Gulf War , little is known about its use and whereabouts.

Flag of Iraq.svg Iraq

The status of the 664 AS.12, which was used between 1973 and 1975 for the SA-316 Alouette III of the Iraqi army , is unclear due to the various conflicts in which Iraq was involved.

Flag of Italy.svg Italy

The Italian Armed Forces received 200 AS.12s between 1963 and 1964. They have now been taken out of service and replaced by the Marte .

Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands

With the naval aviators of the Koninklijke Navy 125 AS.12 were used for the P-2 Neptune. Both are now retired.

Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey

Between 1972 and 1977 the Turkish armed forces received 36 AS.12 for the AB-204 and AB-212 ASW.

Flag of Venezuela.svg Venezuela

80 AS.12 uses the Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana for their Grumman S-2E and AB-212.

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom

The Royal Navy had 500 AS.12 delivered to the Westland Wasp, Wessex and Lynx. It has been retired and has been replaced by the Sea Skua .

Other user countries of AS.12 are Egypt (72), Chile (150), Lebanon (25) and Spain as well as SS.12 (M) Ethiopia (4), Brunei (16), Gabon (10), Libya (48) , Madagascar (16), Malaysia (64), Norway, Senegal, Togo (40), Tunisia (48).

Weapon platforms

helicopter

Planes

Ships

  • Type P-48 speedboat (Tunisia)
  • Kara class speedboat (Togo)
  • Perkasa class speedboat (Malaysia)
  • Tokyo landing craft (Madagascar)
  • Susa class speedboat (Libya)
  • Omar Bongo class speed boat
  • Patra class speedboat
  • Pahlawan class speedboat (Brunei)
  • La combatante class

References

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SIPRI Arms Transfers Database 1950–2009 at www.sipri.org , created on June 12, 2010
  2. ↑ The Naval Institute guide to world naval weapons systems , 1997-1998, by Norman Friedman, p. 228