Our SeaRAMis far from the only ship - based projectile defence turret sail the high seas . French weapons manufacturer MBDA , in fact , has just begin testing a remotely controlled missile launcher of its own . One that last moves the turret ’s operator out of the telephone line of fire .
The original MBDA SIMBAD twin - missile launcher was originally developed in the 1990s as a brace , deck of cards - climb launcher for the company ’s Mistral little - reach , anti - air missiles . It perform the same introductory role as the SeaRAM , a last line of descent of defense against incoming air threat , but was manoeuver directly by a sailor using an visual sight . Somebody had to stand on pack of cards — in the middle of an attack — to draw a bead on and fire .
The novel SIMBAD - RC , however , progress to the operator ’s line of work much less harrowing as it is remotely controlled . Rather than standing directly behind what the assaulter are shooting at , the new system places its manipulator safely below deck behind a command cabinet . Each operator can control a pair of launcher from a single console .
What ’s more , the political platform fires MBDA ’s new Mistral 2 missiles . These are amply self-directed “ flaming and forget ” projectiles assess 6 feet in length and carrying a 3 kg HE warhead pack with tungsten ball projectiles at mach 2.5 . Its passive IR searcher gas a 93 percent pour down rate in training against everything from doctor - wing aircraft to multi - rotor UAVs . You might say this turret is SIMBAD - ass .
The RC ’s improvements over its manual predecessor have made it a pop first line of Department of Defense of the French Navy ’s fleet of Fast Patrol Boats , which are used mostly in littoral waters , as well as an augment to existing anti - aircraft organization aboard the Navy ’s combat ship . MBDA has even begun export the launcher , albeit toan unrevealed foreign big businessman . [ MBDA – Naval Tech – Wiki – Army Tech – Janes ]
RC Images : MBDA
Original SIMBAD image : Jean - Michel Roche – Net Marine
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