Swingfire is a wire-guided anti-tank missile in service with the British Army.

History

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Swingfire replaced the Vickers Vigilant missile in British service. It was a product of both its predecessor the Vigilant and the experimental Orange William missile.

The name comes from the ability of the missile to make a rapid turn of up to ninety degrees after firing to bring it onto the line of the sighting mechanism. This means that the launcher vehicle can be concealed and the operator, using a portable sight, placed at a distance in a more advantageous firing position.

Besides its use on the Striker armoured vehicle, Swingfire was developed to be launched from other platforms:

• Beeswing - on a Land Rover;
• Hawkswing - on a Lynx helicopter;
• Golfswing - on a small trolley or Argocat vehicle.

A major review and procurement process was instituted in the late 1990s to update the British Army's entire anti-armour weapon systems; the candidates, as the replacement for Swingfire, included Hellfire, Starstreak and LOSAT.

Swingfire saw combat use in Operation Telic/Operation Iraqi Freedom

Specification

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• Diameter: 0.17 m
• Length: 1.07 m
• Weight: 27 kg
• Warhead: HEAT
• Range: 150 m to 4000 m
• Velocity 26 seconds to 4000 metres (approx 300 mph)
• Guidance: Wire-guided MCLOS with Thrust Vectored Control (TVC)
• Penetration: 800 mm RHA

Use

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British Army

• FV102 Striker - 5 in ready-to-fire bins.
• FV438 Swingfire - Two firing bins
• Ferret Mk 5 - Four firing bins.

Belgian Army

• FV102 Striker

See also

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• CVR(T)

External links

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• RAF Museum
• Global Defence

See also

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Anti-tank missiles | Cold War weapons | Vehicle weapons | Weapons of the United Kingdom

Swingfire