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The Penguin anti-ship missile, made by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA)1, 2 of Norway from the early 1970s and upgraded several times since, is a passive-IR-seeker based short-to-medium range missile. It was the first AShM of the western world with such a seeker (contrary to active radar).
In its various versions, the Penguin can be launched from surface vessels (like PT boats, its initial application, as well as larger ships), fighter aircraft (certified for F-16), and naval helicopters (certified for Sikorsky S-70 series (SH-60 Seahawk, UH-60 Blackhawk) and Kaman SH-2 Seasprite). The Penguin can be fired singly or in coordinated-arrival salvoes. Propelled by a solid rocket engine, it performs random weaving maneuvres at terminal target approach and hits the target close to the waterline, the modified Bullpup warhead detonating inside the target (ship) by delayed fuze.
Operators of the Penguin, besides the Royal Norwegian Navy and Air Force, include the US Navy (designating it the AGM-119 Penguin) as well as the Australian, Hellenic (Greek), New Zealand, Swedish, and Turkish navies.
KDA's successor to the Penguin will be the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), scheduled to be offered from 2005 onwards. NSM will feature an imaging IR-seeker, a turbojet sustainer engine (for much longer ranges: 150+ km), and significantly more computer performance and digital signal processing power.
Notes
- The Penguin missile was co-developed with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE), known in Norway as Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt (FFI).
- KDA was formerly a part of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk (KV) (1814–1986) and Norsk Forsvarsteknologi (NFT) (1987–1994), and is now part of Kongsberg Gruppen (KOG).
External links
- Official Penguin webpage (KOG) (http://www.kongsberg.com/eng/kda/products/missiles_space/missiles/)
- Missile.index search (http://missile.index.ne.jp/cgi/misearch.cgi?act=cond&lang=en) – Choose* Development-Country: "Norway", then pick "Penguin" from the results list
(* Direct linking to subpages is not possible at this site.)
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