Starstreak missile
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Starstreak is a British short range surface-to-air missile, also known as Starstreak HVM where HVM stands for High Velocity Missile. Starstreak has been in service with the British Army since 1997, and is noted for splitting up into 3 submunition rounds prior to impacting with a target aircraft.
Starstreak is manufactured by Thales Air Defence Limited, in Belfast.
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History
The Stormer variant of Starstreak has been in service with the British army since 1997.
The LML and shoulder-launched versions have been in use since 2000.
In July 2001, Thales received a contract for a Successor Identification Friend or Foe system for Starstreak.
Notes
Starstreak is visually guided to the target by an operator. The aiming unit illuminates the target with a laser beam, and sensors in the missile detect this beam and manoeuvre towards it.
The Starstreak missile breaks up into 3 sub munitions, called darts, prior to hitting the target. Using sub munitions is intended to increase the hit probability. When a dart hits the target, there is a delay before it explodes; it is intended that the dart will embed itself some way into the target, increasing the lethality of the explosion.
Recent testing appears to indicate Starstreak may also be effective against ground based armour. The 1.5 kg steel dart travelling at 1.25 km/s probably has sufficient kinetic energy to penetrate the frontal protection of an infantry fighting vehicle. However it lacks the armour penetration capabilities of a specialised ATGM or a dual purpose missile such as ADATS
Inventory
In use with the:
- United Kingdom:
- ? Alvis Stormer
- 135 LML systems
- ? man-portable
- South Africa:
- 8 LML systems
- Being considered by the USA.
Variants
Starstreak can be:
- carried on an Alvis Stormer AFV - an 8 round launcher with room inside the vehicle for 12 extra missiles
- fired from a Lightweight Multiple Launcher (LML) which holds 3 missiles ready for firing and can be used as either a stationary launch unit or mounted on a light vehicle such as a Land Rover or HMMWV.
- man-portable, fired from the operator's shoulder
- fired from a helicopter
Combat Performance
In combat, it may have a number of advantages over some other missiles. Because it uses passive sensors (infra-red and human visual), it cannot be suppressed with anti-radar missiles. Its fast speed makes it more likely to be able to intercept an aircraft, and the use of 3 submunitions makes it is more likely that a munition will hit the target. Because it uses human visual tracking, anti-IR flares would be useless against it, though having said that anti-IR flares are less useful against modern imaging IR missiles.
Characteristics
- Primary Function: short-range surface-to-air missile
- Contractor: Thales Air Defence Limited, Belfast.
- Length: 1.39 m
- Diameter: 27 cm
- Speed: > Mach 4
- Warhead: 3 penetrating sub-munitions.
- Range: 0.3 - 5 km
- Fuzes: impact
- Guidance system: SACLOS laser beam riding. Optional IR alerting device.
- Date Deployed: 1997
- Users:
- United Kingdom: man portable, mounted on Stormer AFV.
- South Africa on Lightweight Multiple Launchers.
- USA is considering the system for use as an air-to-air missile mounted on AH-64 Apache helicopters.
See also
External link
- Starstreak close air-defence missile (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/starstreak/index.html)