Exocet - Definition and Overview

The Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile made in various versions capable of being launched from surface ships and boats, submarines, and airplanes. It has been extensively used in combat from the 1980s onwards. The name comes from a French word for flying fish.

Description

The Exocet missile is built by European company MBDA's division Aérospatiale (who were also the French arm of the Anglo-French team that built the Concorde.) It is one of the most successful Surface to Surface / Air to Surface missiles currently in service. Development began in 1967, as a ship launched missile named MM 38. The air launched Exocet was developed in 1974 and entering service with the French Navy in 1979. The missile was designed to engage large warships. Guidance in the mid-flight phase is inertial, followed by active radar seeking to acquire its target. The solid propellant engine gives the Exocet a maximum range of 65 km. The submarine-launched version places the missile and a Narval booster motor within a launch capsule.

The Exocet has been manufactured in a number of versions, including:

• MM38 (surface-launched)
• AM39 (air-launched)
• SM39 (submarine-launched)
• MM40 (surface-launched)

The newer MM40 version has an improved ranged, through the use of a turboreactor.

The chief competitor to the Exocet is the USA-built AGM-84 Harpoon.

History

In 1982, during the Falklands war, air-launched Exocets were used successfully by Argentinian forces against the British destroyer HMS Sheffield (4th May) and support ship Atlantic Conveyor (25th May); both sank. A surface-launched Exocet damaged HMS Glamorgan. The Exocet that struck the Sheffield failed to explode but the impact of the missile travelling at 315 m/s and laden with unburnt rocket fuel was enough to set the ship ablaze.

Although the loss of the Sheffield was a blow to British self-esteem, the missile used earned itself a curious kind of respect, and the word "an Exocet" passed into British colloquial use to mean "a devastating attack". It is still occasionally heard, and would be widely understood, today.

Iraq successfully used the air-launched version against Iranian shipping during the Iran-Iraq War. On March 17, 1987, an Iraqi Mirage F-1 accidentally fired 2 exocets against the US Navy Guided missile frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) (an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate), mistaking the vessel for an Iranian tanker; the Stark was heavily damaged but saved by the crew and sent back for repairs. Saddam Hussein is rumored to have beheaded the pilot who mistakenly fired the missiles at his then-ally.

The Lokata

Secrecy of the Exocet suffered a blow in the late 1970's when a civilian in Falmouth in Cornwall in England accidentally independently duplicated the Exocet's navigation system and, despite order from the Patents Office to keep it secret, sold it to the public as a small boat type navigation system called Lokata.

Operators

The Exocet is currently in service with France, Germany, Greece, Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Oman, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar and Peru. It also served with the Royal Navy until the last Exocet armed surface vessel was decommissioned in 2002.

External Links

• Netmarine.net (http://www.netmarine.net/bat/ee/jaureguib/photo04.htm) Photograph of the impact of an Exocet missile on the Jauréguiberry target ship.
• Netmarine.net (http://www.netmarine.net/armes/exocet/photos.htm) Gallery of photographs of various variants of the Exocet missile.