The SAMP/T also called MAMBA in the French army is a theatre antimissile system designed to protect the battlefield and sensitive tactical sites (such as airports and sea ports) against all current and future airborne threats, including cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles in the 600 km range class. The SAMP/T is produced by Eurosam, a 50:50 joint venture between MBDA and Thales. Its key components are the Aster 30 interceptor and Arabel multi-function radar. The SAMP/T has been designed to operate in extreme clutter and electronic countermeasures environments. Interoperability with other NATO air defense systems is another key for the SAMP/T program. The entire system could be airlifted by the latest NATO tactical transport aircraft such as the Airbus A400M and Lockheed-Martin C-130J Super Hercules deploying them anywhere around the globe. The French Air Force, after the Volfa exercise in February 2011, deployed a MAMBA (SAMP/T) unit to provide air defence coverage for the G8 summit in Deauville. The first French MAMBA squadron achieved operational status in October 2011. In March 2012 the MAMBA (SAMP/T) proved its ability to support Army mobile formations while matching their maneuver tempo. In June 2012, the Italian Army activates its first SAMP/T Regiment, in Mantova. On 6 March 2013, the Italian Army and the French Air Force deployed their SAMP/T medium range air defence systems for the first time within a NATO architecture in successfully intercepting a target representative of a theatre ballistic missile. After about 300 km of ballistic flight, the target, which had been launched from an aircraft, was destroyed by the Aster 30 interceptor missile. In September 2013, Singapore’s Defense Minister has announced that the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will acquire the Eurosam Aster 30 / SAMP-T Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Air Defense System to establish a multi-layered defense against aerial threats.
Tag: manpads
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Mistral Missile 3D Model
The basic Mistral missile is used with a man-portable launch unit. There are also launch units that allow the missile to be fired from armoured vehicles, ships or helicopters (such as the Aérospatiale Gazelle, Denel Rooivalk, or Eurocopter Tiger). To reject the flares ejected from the rear of the targeted aircraft, proportional navigation using a gyro as a reference is adopted for Mistral, instead of the pursuit method in earlier IR-guided MANPADS. To further enhance the ECCM capability, the seeker of Mistral has a very narrow field of view to reject decoys and interference, but the seeker can tilt in the range of +/- 38 degrees. On the launcher, the missile runs up the gyro in 2 seconds, and total reaction time is 5 seconds. The all-aspect two-color (2-4 and 3-5 µm) cooled IR-seeker of Mistral is developed by SAT, and the missile adopts both laser proximity and impact fuzes.A close-in weapon system based on Mistral is a six-missile version called Sadral, with a stabilized rapid-reload launcher that is fully automated. A CSEE developed fire control director is integrated to the launcher, consisted of TV camera and FLIR. Image produced by both directors appear on the screen in the operator console below deck, and the missiles are locked onto the target before being launched. A fully loaded Sadral launcher weighs 1080 kg, and the operator console weighs 280 kg. A two-missile unit installed on ships is called Simbad, and a newly launched four-missile version is called Tetral. An evolution of the Simbad is now proposed: Simbad RC. Both Tetral and Simbad RC are remote controlled from the ship’s deck while the original Simbad is manually operated with a simple optical sight.