The Martel rocket was developed by the British company Hawker-Siddely together with the French company Matra. The missile is designed in two versions: with a television guidance system - AJ.168 and with a passive homing radar head - AS-37.
The AS-37 antiradar missile was adopted for service in 1969. Martel" missiles of both types were equipped with "Mirage-3", "Jaguar", "Bucaneer", "Harrier", "Atlantic", "Nimrod".
An improved version of the missile, named ARMAT, entered service with the French and British Air Forces in 1984. This missile has an improved CNS and extended range. ARMAT missiles are part of the armament of "Mirage-2000" and "Jaguar" aircraft.
Composition:
The Martel rocket has a normal aerodynamic circuitry. The casing is cylindrical. On it there is a cruciform wing of a large sweep. The wing is triangular in plan with cut ends, has a lentil-shaped profile. Behind the wing at close range are placed control surfaces.
The power unit consists of starting and marching solid fuel engines, located one after another. Through the starting digitizer is the gas pipe of the marshal engine, which is connected to the nozzle mounted on the bottom. There are four starter engine nozzles located in this bottom.
The missile's passive homing radar head operates at fixed frequencies of several bands and is primarily designed to engage enemy pulsed radars. Before the combat application of AS-37 against radars of known type, the heterodyne of the reconnaissance receiver is adjusted to a certain frequency.
Characteristics:
| Length, m | 4.12 |
| Hull diameter, m | 0.4 |
| Wingspan, m | 1.2 |
| Start weight,kg | 535 |
| Weight of combat unit, kg | 150 |
| Flight Speed, M | 0.9 |
| Range minimum, km | 15 |
| Range maximum,km | |
| Martel AS-37 | 60 |
| Armat | 120 |
Testing:
MTUR "Malyutka" was very successfully used during the Arab-Israeli War in 1973, it was with its help that almost the entire Israeli tank fleet was destroyed - about 800 vehicles. Only on October 6, 1973, for example, the 252nd Israeli Tank Division was defeated - more than a hundred vehicles were hit.
Sources:
- А.Б.Широкорад "История авиационного вооружения", Минск, Харвест, 1999г.
