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The SS.11 is a French
manual command to line of sight Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS or MACLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is ste ...
wire-guided
anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...
manufactured by
Nord Aviation Nord-Aviation () was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. The bulk of its facilities were based on the site of Bourges airport, in the département of Cher, in central France. On 1 October 1954, Nord Aviation was created as a result of ...
. It is also available in the air-to-ground version, AS.11, which featured a stabilized sighting system. The AS.11 was also known as the AGM-22 in American service. It is among the earliest guided anti-tank missiles, entering service with the French Army in 1956 and remaining in service into the 1980s. It also formed the basis for the larger and longer-ranged SS.12/AS.12 series. The missile was guided manually by comparing the location of the target to
flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...
s on the back of the missile and using a small joystick to adjust its flight. The original manual guidance system was replaced in 1967 to produce the Harpon version, which used
SACLOS Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the ...
guidance using an
infrared homing Infrared homing is a Missile guidance#Passive homing, passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "he ...
sensor tracking the original flares. This greatly eased the operation of the system, the operator simply had to keep the sights pointed at the target and the missile would automatically fly along the line of sight. Production of the SS.11 and later SS.12/AS.12 series missiles ceased some time in the 1980s, by which time over 170,000 had been sold. The price of the SS.11 in the late 1960s was stated at approximately $1,900 U.S. dollars.


History

The first combat use of the SS.11 was in 1956 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 ...
, fired from a Dassault MD 311 light twin-engine transport, as a method of attacking fortified caves located in steep mountain gorges during the
Algerian war The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...
. The combat experiment proved extremely successful and became standard on other French Air Force MD 311s stationed in the Algerian war theater. From this early combat experience in Algeria with fixed wing aircraft firing the SS.11, the French Army took note and introduced the world's first specialized combat helicopter firing antitank missiles, based on the
Aérospatiale Alouette II The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, "lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine e ...
and later the
Aérospatiale Alouette III The Aérospatiale Alouette III (, ''Lark''; company designations SA 316 and SA 319) is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by France, French aircraft company Sud Aviation. During its production life, it proved to be a popular ro ...
that fired both the earlier surface-to-surface SS.11 and the AS.11 developed for air-to-surface firing from aircraft, both of which saw extensive combat in that conflict from 1958 to 1962. After the cancellation of the
SSM-A-23 Dart The XSSM-A-23 Dart was an anti-tank-guided missile developed for the United States Army in the 1950s. After protracted development, the missile, similar in design to the French SS.10, was cancelled in favor of purchasing the SS.11 missile. Desig ...
in 1958, the United States began evaluating the SS.11, and accepted it into service in 1961 as the AGM-22A. The missile was deployed from UH-1B Huey helicopters using either the XM11 or M22 armament subsystems. In U.S. Army service, the SS.11 was used mainly to develop tactics employing antitank helicopters and to train future helicopter crews. In September 1966, 12 U.S. Army UH-1B helicopters belonging to a special unit, fitted with the XM-58 stabilized sight arrived in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
. One month later, they fired AGM-22s in combat. In May 1972 in response to the
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
ese armor used in the
Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive (') by North Vietnam, or the Red Fiery Summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, t ...
six UH-1s equipped with AGM-22s were deployed in Quang Tri Province. The system was rated moderately effective against tanks, but was extensively used against bunkers and fortified structures. All units were withdrawn to the U.S. by 31 October 1972. During the Arab-Israeli
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
in 1967, the Israeli Army was equipped with a large number of SS.11s supplied by France. SS.11s were used during the battle of Abu-Ageila. In 1966, the French Navy did an evaluation of the SS.11(M) and SS.12(M) from the fast patrol boat '' La Combattante''. In 1966, the
Libyan Navy The Libyan Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Libyan Armed Forces. Established in November 1962, Libyan Navy was headed by Admiral Mansour Bader, Chief of Staff of the Libyan Naval Force. Before the First Libyan Civil War, it was a fairl ...
ordered three Vosper Thornycroft fast patrol boats (the ''Sebha'', ''Sirte'' and ''Susa''). Delivered in 1968, these were the first naval vessels to be armed with the SS.11(M) and AS.12(M) being armed with four on each side of the vessel's bridge; the Libyan fast patrol boats proved that this was a very low-cost way to give long-range heavy firepower to small naval vessels. Other navies soon followed Libya and bought the SS.12(M) and SS.11(M) for their light naval vessels; among them Brunei, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Senegal, and Tunisia. NORD also developed a ten-missile trainable launcher for either the SS.11(M) or SS.12(M), which was sold in numbers due to its extremely cost-effective firepower for both light and medium size naval craft. During the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
, both 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 ...
and the British
Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
used
Westland Scout The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientat ...
helicopters armed with the SS.11. On 14 June 1982, two Army and two Marine Scouts attacked Argentine positions on the south-west outskirts of
Port Stanley Stanley (also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a population o ...
. Of the ten missiles fired, nine hit their targets and one was lost due to a command wire breaking.


Development

Development of an improved version of the SS.10 (Nord-5203) began in 1953 as the Nord-5210. The missile was intended as a heavy version of the man-portable SS.10 for use from vehicles, ships and helicopters. The missile entered service with the French army as the designation SS.11. It was used as the first helicopter-mounted anti-tank missile in the world (on Alouette IIs).''Helicopters at War'' - Blitz Editions, Page, 63, From 1962, a "B" model of the missile was produced, which replaced some of the original electronics with solid state components. The transistorization improved response time and handling, which reduced the tendency to over-correct during flight. This was the version used for the development of an infantry version, in which the operator carried three warheads and had a "waist belt fire-control," and three other men carried the missile minus its warhead. One of the most unusual uses of the SS.11 was that of probably the smallest anti-shipping missile in the world, with the Swedish Marines employing it in the anti-landing craft role for decades, until it was replaced by a specialized version of the
AGM-114 Hellfire The AGM-114 Hellfire is an American missile developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets. It was originally developed under the name " Heliborne laser, fi ...
. It was also used by the Finnish coastal artillery for covering narrow channels in the archipelago, being replaced in this role by the Israeli SPIKE ER (Rannikko-Ohjus 06).


Description

A variety of warheads are available for the missile: * 140AC hollow-charge: 600 mm versus RHA * 140AP02 blast-fragmentation: 10 mm steel plate * 140AP59 anti personnel * 140CCN anti-shipping On launch, the SNPE rocket booster, with two outlets on the side of the missile body, burns for 1.2 seconds, after which the Sophie sustainer engine, with single outlet in the rear of the missile body burns for 20 seconds. Unlike the earlier SS.10, which steered similarly to an airplane with small flight controls called "spoilers" located on the missiles wings, the SS.11 is steered in flight by a unique system developed by NORD for France's first
air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...
, the AA.20, called TVC (thrust vectoring control) in which four small vanes are located around the sustainer's exhaust, which under command momentarily push into the sustainer's thrust causing the missile to move in the direction commanded. Since the missile spins slowly in flight by having the four swept wings slightly offset, a
gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...
is needed to determine the missile's relative orientation to the ground, that is, up, down and right, left. Unlike the earlier spoiler flight control, TVC is a far more precise method of controlling a missile in flight. TVC has been copied by other missile designs, including the Russians with their
9M14 Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...
(NATO name: AT-3 Sagger) and the Euromissile HOT and
MILAN Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
developed by joint venture of the French and Germans. Due to the manual nature of the guidance, called
MCLOS Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS or MACLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is ste ...
, where the operator had to first gain control of the missile and bring it into his line of sight with the target, engagements of targets at short range were poor, but beyond 500 meters accuracy was good to excellent for a well trained operator. In 1967 (by which time NORD had been merged with Aerospatiale), a version of the SS.11, called Harpon, was developed with a much improved guidance system called
SACLOS Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the ...
in which the missile is automatically tracked in flight and brought to the gunner's line of sight. This guidance system drastically increases the SS.11 accuracy, especially at engagement ranges of less than 500 meters.


Models

* SS.11/AGM-22: Surface-to-surface wire-guided anti-tank missile. ** SS.11A1 XAGM-22A ** SS.11B1 XAGM-22B: Much improved with transistors ** SS.11B1 (training) XATM-22B * AS.11: Air-to-surface missile. * SS.11M: Maritime surface-to-surface wire-guided anti-ship missile. * HARPON: SS.11 version with
SACLOS Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the ...
guidance replacing
MCLOS Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS or MACLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is ste ...
. Entered production in 1967


Operators


See also

* Aerospatiale SS.12/AS.12, a later derivative of the Nord SS.11 * Raketenjagdpanzer 1, Germany ATGM carrier AFV of 1961


Notes


References

* * * * *


External links


Early 1960s video of SS.11 being tested by U.S. Army
on
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{{US missiles Anti-tank guided missiles of the Cold War Anti-tank guided missiles of France Military equipment introduced in the 1950s Wire-guided missiles