The FV438 Swingfire was an armoured

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

vehicle of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. It was derived from the

FV430 series The FV430 series covers a number of armoured fighting vehicles of the British Army, all built on the same chassis. The most common is the FV432 armoured personnel carrier. Although the FV430 series has been in service since the 1960s, and som ...

of vehicles by converting the FV432 to accommodate a launcher for Swingfire

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...

s. The FV438 carried fourteen missiles and had two firing bins, which could be reloaded from inside the vehicle. It was fitted with a Hensoldt 1x & 10x Military Periscope Monocular Guided Missile Sight, firing station and guidance system. It also carried a separate Barr & Stroud thermal imaging sight and control unit, which could be deployed up to 75 metres away from, and 15m above or below, the vehicle, connected to it by a cable. This enabled the missiles to be aimed and fired whilst the vehicle remained camouflaged, completely hidden from the enemy in dead ground or behind cover. The Swingfire missile had a thrust-vectoring engine nozzle which gave it the capability to make a ninety-degree turn immediately after leaving the launch bin in order to get into the controller's line of sight. When FV438 entered service in the 1970s, it was operated by specialised anti-tank units of the British Infantry and

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

. In 1977, the anti-tank role was transferred to the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, which formed the FV438s into four independent Royal Horse Artillery batteries, one for each Armoured Division in the British Army of the Rhine. In 1984, the Royal Artillery relinquished the anti-tank role and the FV438s were formed into guided-weapon troops (each of 9 vehicles), one for each Armoured Regiment. The FV438 Swingfire was eventually phased out of service in 1986.

References

Cold War armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s Anti-tank missile carrier {{UK-mil-stub

See also

References