The SNEB rocket (french: Societe Nouvelle des Etablissements Edgar Brandt) is an unguided air-to-ground

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...

projectile manufactured by the French company ''TDA Armements'', designed for launch by combat

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

and

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

. It is also known as the SNEB rocket pod, and sometimes as the Matra rocket, due to its commonly being carried in pod-like launchers built by

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and wea ...

. Two other rockets were developed in the and caliber. The 37mm caliber was one of the earliest folding fin free flight rockets developed after World War II; it was developed mainly for air-to-air engagements and is no longer in service. The 100mm caliber variant is in service with the French Air Force and a few other air forces. Besides France, several other nations produce the SNEB 68 mm rocket under license. In France today, SNEB has been reorganized into the firm of Thomson-Brandt.

Warheads

The SNEB rocket projectiles can be armed with the following

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

s: *

High explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...

* High explosive anti-tank warhead *Multi-purpose fragmentation *

Flechette A flechette ( ) is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French , "little arrow" or "dart", and sometimes retains the acute accent in English: fléchette. They have been used as ballistic weapons sinc ...

anti-personnel/materiel *

Smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-produc ...

* Illuminating *Training rocket

Laser guidance development

The ''Systeme de Roquette A Corrections de Trajectoire (SYROCOT)'' is a program where a

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 ...

seeker is incorporated into the design. It is compatible with the existing SNEB system. It is comparable to the US

Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System The AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) is a design conversion of Hydra 70 unguided rockets with a laser guidance kit to turn them into precision-guided munitions (PGMs). APKWS is approximately one-third the cost and one-third ...

project.

Rocket launchers/pods

The French armament company of

produced the following types of rocket launcher for use with the SNEB 68 mm rocket projectiles: *Matra Type 116M rocket launcher — This was lightly constructed and is used as an expendable rocket launcher pod with a frangible

nose cone A nose cone is the conically shaped forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft, designed to modulate oncoming airflow behaviors and minimize aerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submerged watercraft such as ...

, loaded with 19 SNEB 68mm rockets which were fired in a single rippled 0.5 second

salvo A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in one blow and prevent them from fightin ...

with a time interval of 33 milliseconds between each rocket firing. The pod is automatically jettisoned after all the rockets are expended. *Matra Type 155 rocket launcher — Widely produced, this was a reusable device manufactured completely from metal with a fluted nose cone through which the rocket projectiles were fired. Loaded with 18 SNEB 68mm rockets, it can be pre-programmed on the ground to fire in shots or in one single ripple salvo as the ''Type 116M''. *Matra JL-100 drop tank/rocket pack — This unique arrangement combines a

drop tank In aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern ...

with a rocket launcher containing 19 SNEB 68 mm rockets in front to form an aerodynamically-shaped pod which can be mounted on over-wing or under-wing hardpoints. One notable aircraft equipped with this was the

English Electric Lightning The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was capable of a top speed of above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufa ...

F.53 of Royal Saudi Air Force. TDA Armements SAS (a subsidiary of

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Pari ...

) also manufactures pods for the 68mm SNEB rocket. Variants produced are the 12 tube Telson 12 JF for fighter aircraft, the 12 tube Telson 12 and the 22 tube Telson 22 used by the

Eurocopter Tiger The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), which arose from the merger of Aérospatiale's and DASA's respective helic ...

, the 8 tube Telson 8 designed for light helicopters and the 2 tube Telson 2 suitable for

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...

s and light

counter-insurgency aircraft Counter-insurgency aircraft or COIN aircraft are a specialized variety of military light attack aircraft, designed for counter-insurgency operations, armed reconnaissance, air escort of ground forces, and ground support against "low-intensity enga ...

. The British firm Thomas French & Sons also produced a series of launchers for the SNEB, which were licensed versions of the Matra Type 155. These were later adapted for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

's own post-war 2-inch rockets which replaced the SNEB due to concerns over the electrical firing system being set off by ship radars.

Used by

Helicopters

Fixed-wing aircraft

References

{{reflist

External links

T.D.A. Armements SAS website
Air-to-ground rockets Cold War weapons of France Matra