RBS 70 (Robotsystem 70) is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) designed for

anti-aircraft warfare Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

in all climate zones and with little to no support from other forces. Originally designed and manufactured by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors Defence (now

Saab Bofors Dynamics Saab Bofors Dynamics, located in Karlskoga and Linköping, Sweden, is a subsidiary of the Saab Group that specializes in military materiel such as missile systems and anti-tank systems. Its corporate heritage goes back to Bofors, a hammer mill, ...

, since 2000). It uses the RB 70 missile which is also in use in a number of other Swedish

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...

systems.

History

The RBS 70 was developed to supply the Swedish air defense with a low-cost, easy-to-use and effective short-range SAM system. Before RBS 70 the mainstay of Swedish air defense was American MIM-23 Hawk systems ( RBS 77 and

RBS 97 RBS may refer to: Organisations Banking * The Royal Bank of Scotland, a retail banking subsidiary of NatWest Group ** RBS International, the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group Education * Regent's Business School * Rotterdam Business School ...

"Swedish HAWK"), American Redeye ( RBS 69) and the Swedish Bofors m/48

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

Design

Australian RBS-70 team during Exercise Talisman Sabre 21

The RBS 70 is a Short-range Air Defense (SHORAD)

laser guided Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

missile system. Mk 1 and Mk 2 followed shortly and are the standard RBS 70 with a range of 5,000–6,000 m and a ceiling of 3,000 m. Currently, RBS 70 is operational in 18 customer countries, on all continents and in arctic, desert, and tropical environments. In 2003 the "BOLIDE" upgrade system was introduced to the RBS 70. The BOLIDE missile is an RBS 70 Mk 2 upgrade that is faster (Mach 2 vs Mach 1.6), with a range up to and can reach an altitude of 6 km. Deliveries were initiated in 2005.

Latest upgrade

In 2011,

(successor company of Bofors Defence) announced the introduction of the new RBS 70 New Generation (RBS 70 NG). The upgraded version included an improved sighting system capable of night vision and improved training and after-action review features.

Operational use

In 1990, the Royal Australian Navy embarked two RBS 70 units and Australian Army operators on board the fleet replenishment ship HMAS ''Success'' when it deployed to the Persian Gulf in the lead-up to the first Gulf War in Kuwait. In 1992, a Venezuelan Army RBS 70 SAM is attributed with having shot down a rebel

OV-10 Bronco The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a f ...

during the

1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

on November 27. Iran used the RBS 70 system during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

against Iraqi aircraft. The Australian government has announced the Short Range Ground Based Air Defence in 2017. The plan is to find a replacement for the RBS-70. As of 2019 the

NASAMS NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is a distributed and networked short- to medium-range ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Ae ...

is the chosen option. Defence Department has signed a contract with Raytheon Australia. Planned replacement of the RBS-70 is financial year 2022–23.

Operators

Current operators

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

* Australia *

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

RBS NG *

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

RBS 70 and RBS 70 NG *

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

* Military of Ireland, Ireland * Military of Latvia, Latvia * Lithuanian Armed Forces, Lithuania * Mexican Army * Pakistan Armed Forces, Pakistan: Assembled since 1988. 1500 in service with the Pakistan Army. * * Swedish Armed Forces, Sweden * Military of Thailand, Thailand * Military of Tunisia, Tunisia * Military of the United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates * Military of Venezuela, Venezuela * Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukraine

Former operators

* **Norwegian Army (Sold to Lithuania)

References

External links

Official SAAB company page of RBS 70

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111221811/http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/rbs70.htm , date=2013-11-11 at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website
RBS 70 at GlobalSecurity.org

Surface-to-air missiles of Sweden Guided missiles of Sweden Military equipment introduced in the 1970s