ARMAT is a French

anti-radar missile An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...

. It is a development of the Anglo-French

Martel Martel may refer to: People * Andre Martel (1946–2016), American politician and businessman * Anne-Marie Martel (1644–1673), founder of what is now the Congrégation des Sœurs de l’Enfant-Jésus. * James B. Aguayo-Martel, ophthalmologist ...

. It was adopted by the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

and exported to several other countries, and has been used in combat by Iraq.

Development

Martel was developed as a joint Anglo-French programme in two versions, a TV-guided version, which was only used by the British, and an anti-radar version, which was used by both countries When it came to replace Martel, Britain and France pursued separate programmes, with

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

developing the

Sea Eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described w ...

anti-ship missile (which used a similar airframe to Martel but powered by a turbojet and with active radar homing and the smaller

ALARM ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the Royal Air Force, RAF and is still used by ...

anti-radar missile. To meet France's requirements for an anti-radar missile, French company

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...

developed the Martel into the ARMAT (Anti-Radar Matra), with work beginning in 1979. This used the same airframe as the Martel, but with a higher

impulse Impulse or Impulsive may refer to: Science * Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time * Impulse noise (disambiguation) * Specific impulse, the change in momentum per unit ...

rocket motor, and an improved homing seeker and electronics. ARMAT is reported to be provided with several interchangeable homing heads, covering differing frequency ranges (from L- to

X band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0–11.2&nbs ...

) depending on the likely targets, and can be launched from both high or low altitude, with a range of from to reported. The missile has a high subsonic speed, and is supersonic in a dive. It carries a warhead of to .

Operational history

Iraq took an early interest in the development of ARMAT, and used the missile during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, entering Iraqi service in 1982. ARMAT entered service with the

in 1984. ARMAT has been cleared for carriage on the

Mirage F.1 The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the Mirage III family. During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would become t ...

Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, delta wing, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French ...

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is a British-French supersonic jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. As of 2025, the Jaguar remains in service with the ...

fighters and attack aircraft and the

Bréguet 1150 Atlantic The Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft designed and manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer Breguet Aviation. Designed in response to a 1958 NATO specification as a replacement for the Lockheed P2V Neptune, B ...

maritime patrol aircraft. In 1988, an improved version, called MARS, was proposed. French ARMATs may have been upgraded in the early 1990s.

References

Notes

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External links

Ancile
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Anti-radiation missiles of France Military equipment introduced in the 1980s Air-to-surface missiles of the Cold War Air-to-surface missiles of France