Crotale missile
Encyclopedia
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
, which can be used to intercept low-flight anti-ship missile
Anti-ship missile
Anti-ship missiles are guided missiles that are designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming type, many use a combination of inertial guidance and radar homing...
s and aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
. It has been developed by Thomson CSF Matra and exists in two versions, a mobile land-based version and a ship-launched one.
Development
Originally the Crotale R440 system was developed by Thomson-Houston (and Mistral) in France for South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, where it got the name Cactus. However, the achievements of the system impressed the French Armed Forces, who purchased the system both for the air force and for the navy.
The firing system includes the main sensors of the ship, the firing system of the turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
, and a central coordination system. The turret holds eight missiles ready for launch in watertight containers. The magazine behind the turret holds 18 missiles.
The French army first utilised a 4x4 wheeled, armed with four launchers. In order to ensure a higher mobility, it was decided to mount the system on the chassis of the French AMX-30 main battle tank. At the same time, the number of launchers were increased to six. In Finnish Army service, the Crotale NG system has been mounted on Sisu Pasi vehicles. Here the numbers of launchers is eight.
The Crotale system has also been installed on various military ships. For instance the French Navy La Fayette class frigates
La Fayette class frigate
The La Fayette class units are light multi-mission frigates built by DCN and operated by French Marine Nationale...
have a Crotale 8-tubed launcher near the helicopter flight deck.
Crotale NG
A modernized version, the Crotale NG (New Generation), entered production in 1990. This version used the new VT-1 missile with Mach 3.5 speed, load factor to 35G, 11 km range, 13 kg warhead (8m kill-zone) and 6,000 m ceiling. The system includes a S-band Pulse Doppler radar (20 km), Ku-band TWT tracking radar (30 km), Thermal camera (19 km), Daylight CCD camera (15 km), and an IR localiser.K-SAM Pegasus
In 1999, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces awarded a contract to SamsungSamsung Group
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
Thales
Thales Group
The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
to jointly develop a South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n-augmented Crotale NG system for the K-SAM Pegasus short range air defense system. A new search-and-track radar was jointly developed by Samsung and Thales to meet the required operational capability of the K-SAM Pegasus, as well as a new indigenous missile by LIG Nex1. Doosan DST
Doosan Group
Doosan Group is a South Korean conglomerate quoted on the Korea Stock Exchange. Doosan has been placed 471st in the Fortune 2009. It has been included in the Forbes Global 2000 companies from 2007. It had recently acquired SKODA power thus making it a full swing in power plant global competitors...
integrated this modified Crotale NG system with a K200 vehicle. 48 units were initially produced for 330 million Euros. A second batch of 66 units was ordered in 2003, valued at 470 million Euros.
Multi-Shield 100
Thales revealed an updated Crotale NG system with Shikra radar at the Paris Air Show in 2007. The system combines Crotale Mk3 VT-1 missile and Shikra multi-beam search radar, with 150 km(detection range). Thales has demonstrated that the system's VT-1 missile has extended range to 15 km.Technology
The Crotale missile system consists of two components; a vehicle for transport, equipped with 2-8 launchers, a tracking radar is located between the launchers. A second vehicle carries the surveillance radar. The radar surveillance vehicle can be connected to several launcher vehicles, in order to achieve an effective air-defence system. The Crotale NG has incorporated both the launcher and the surveillance radar in one vehicle.The missile is driven by solid-propellant fuel. It can reach its maximum speed of Mach 2.3 within only two seconds and then follows the radar beam, until its infrared fuze senses that it is near its target and explodes.
The surveillance radar and fire direction radar has a range of 20 km and the TV-link works up to 15 km. The TV-guidance system uses both regular and infrared cameras. The system can follow 8 targets simultaneously, and the guidance radar can follow both hovering helicopters as well as fighters exceeding speeds over Mach 2. The weapon system can also use surveillance data from other systems, data from optical surveillance and from the general aerial picture from the national air defence communications system.
Variants
HQ-7: China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
developed the HQ-7
HQ-7
The HongQi 7 or HQ-7 is a short-range air defense missile. The missile is deployed on both ships and land-based vehicles. China revealed the export version, FM-80, in the 1989 Dubai Aerospace Show...
SAM
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
system partly from reverse-engineering Crotale. An improved version, the HQ-7A/FM-90, is known to exist.
Shahab Thaqeb: In 2002 Iran revealed details concerning a domestically produced surface to air missile system, named Shahab Thaqeb. The system, mounted on a 4-wheel trailer, closely resemebled the Chinese HQ-7/FM-80/90 series of which Iran had already received. It was unclear whether these systems were actually manufacturered in Iran, or whether some portion of the assembly had been conducted domestically.
R460 SICA (Shahine): Thomson-CSF (now Thales
Thales Group
The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
) developed a specific version of the Crotale known as "Shahine" for Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. The system became operational in 1980. The main visible differences are mainly the carrier (an AMX 30 armoured carrier instead of the non protected classic carrier), and that it carries a six missile firing unit (instead of four). The purpose of the changes was to allow the Shahine firing and acquisition units to follow and protect the armoured units of the Saudi Armed Forces on the battlefield. The Shahine units were among the first vehicles to liberate Kuwait City
Kuwait City
-Suburbs:Although the districts below are not usually recognized as suburbs, the following is a list of a few areas surrounding Kuwait city:Al-Salam ""السلام"" -Economy:...
in February 1991 - a picture taken of the scene was widely publicised by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine.
Crotale NG (VT-1): An updated version, New Generation. Finland was the first operator of the system. The cost of the system is roughly 8 million euros (excluding the vehicle). Greece is another user, and paid 1 Billion French Francs in 1998 for 11 systems: 9 for the Hellenic Air Force and 2 for the Hellenic Navy. In 2002 euros, that would have amounted up to 12 million euros per unit.
Crotale Mk.3: In January 2008, France test-fired the new Crotale Mk.3 system at the CELM missile launch test center in Biscarrosse. The Crotale Mk.3 system's VT1 missile successfully intercepted a Banshee target drone at 970 metre altitude and 8 km range in 11 seconds on 15 January 2008. Later, on 31 January 2008, the system successfully intercepted another target drone at a 500 metre altitude and 15 km range in 35 seconds.
Operators
There are several countries that operate the Crotale or Crotale NG missile.: The Finnish Army
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces.Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry , field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops.-History of the Finnish Army:Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of...
operates Crotale NGs on Sisu XA-181
Patria Pasi variants
Patria Pasi variants, which were the choice of the defence forces of Finland for the armoured personnel carries to replace the already obsolete Soviet BTR-60's was a result of the commercial competition between two Finnish companies, a tractor manufacturer Valmet and the lorry manufacturer Sisu,...
vehicles, designated ITO90M. 21 systems.
: Crotale and Crotale NG (12 systems)
: Crotale NG, used by Hellenic Air Force
Hellenic Air Force
The Hellenic Air Force, abbreviated to HAF is the air force of Greece. The mission of the Hellenic Air Force is to guard and protect Greek airspace, provide air assistance and support to the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid in Greece and around the...
(9 systems) and Hellenic Navy
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
(2 systems).
: Crotale NG
: K-SAM Pegasus (114 systems)
: Crotale NG
Former operators:
See also
- Roland missile (Franco-German surface-to-air missile)
- LFK NGLFK NGLFK NG from Lenkflugkörper Neue Generation , is currently under development by LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme and Diehl BGT Defence as the new short-range surface-to-air missile system for the German Army as a replacement for its former Roland air defence systems and as a part of the army's new SysFla...
(the future surface-to-air missile of the German ArmyGerman ArmyThe German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
)