AS.30
Sign in to saveThe AS-30 was an air-to-ground missile built by Nord Aviation. It was a precision attack weapon designed to be used against high-value targets such as bridges and bunkers. The AS-30 was essentially a larger version of the earlier AS-20 design, and initially used that weapon's guidance system, which required pilots to track the weapon visually and correct its path using a small joystick, while also flying their own aircraft. All such MCLOS systems proved very difficult to use in practice. The updated AS-30L replaced this system with a semi-active laser homing system, which allows the missile to
Key facts
- Weapon.is_missile
- yes
- Weapon.name
- AS-30
- Weapon.image
- AS.30.jpg
- Weapon.image_size
- 300
- Weapon.caption
- Early AS.30 radio command guidance
- Weapon.origin
- France
- Weapon.type
- short-to-medium range air-to-ground missile
- Weapon.used_by
- See "Operators" section
- Weapon.manufacturer
- Aérospatiale
- Weapon.production_date
- 1960
- Weapon.service
- 1960(AS-30) 1988 (AS-30L)
- Weapon.engine
- Two-stage solid propellant rocket motors, composite booster, double-based sustainer
- Weapon.weight
- 520 kg (1,146 lb)
- Weapon.length
- 3.84 m (12 ft 7.57 in) for AS-30 3.65m (11 ft 11.7 in) for AS-30L
- Weapon.diameter
- 340mm (13 in)
- Weapon.wingspan
- 1 m (3.2 ft)
- Weapon.speed
- 1,620 km/h (1,056 mph)
- Weapon.vehicle_range
- 3-11 km (1.8-6.8 mi) for AS-30 3-12km (1.8-7.4 mi) for AS-30L
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Design
- AS-30L
- Operational life
- Variants
- Operators
- Current and former operators
- References
The AS-30 was an air-to-ground missile built by Nord Aviation. It was a precision attack weapon designed to be used against high-value targets such as bridges and bunkers. The AS-30 was essentially a larger version of the earlier AS-20 design, and initially used that weapon's guidance system, which required pilots to track the weapon visually and correct its path using a small joystick, while also flying their own aircraft. All such MCLOS systems proved very difficult to use in practice. The updated AS-30L replaced this system with a semi-active laser homing system, which allows the missile to fly to the target without operator intervention. About 60 AS-30Ls were launched during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Deliberate Force with great success.
==Design== The first AS-30 was a development of the 1960s Nord AS-20, to allow both an increase in range and a much larger warhead, and is almost identical to the earlier AS-20 in design. The AS-30 has four large steeply swept back fins such as those on the AS-20, cruciform in cross-section around the midsection of its body. However, because of its larger size, the AS-30 in addition has four smaller fins at the rear of the missile body to increase stability in flight.