Sea Killer / Marte
Anti-ship missile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anti-ship missile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sea Killer is an Italian anti-ship missile family. The latest development of the system is known as Marte. Marte is a sea skimming, subsonic, anti-ship missile, it carries a 70 kilograms (150 lb) semi-armour piercing warhead. It has been built in several versions, with differing guidance systems, and is suitable for launching from ships or aircraft.
| Sea Killer / Marte | |
|---|---|
,_Fremantle,_2017_(03).jpg) A Marte ER on display aboard an Italian FREMM multipurpose frigate | |
| Type | Anti-ship missile |
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Italy Iran United Arab Emirates Qatar Turkmenistan Venezuela |
| Wars | Iran-Iraq War[1] |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | MBDA Italia / (historic: Sistel SpA) |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 300 kg (660 lb)[2] |
| Length | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)[2] |
| Diameter | 0.206 m (8.1 in) (body)[2] |
| Wingspan | 0.999 m (3 ft 3.3 in)[2] |
| Warhead | 70 kg (150 lb) Semi-armour piercing HE |
Detonation mechanism | Impact and proximity fuze |
| Engine | Solid fuel[broken anchor] rocket booster and sustainer
|
Operational range | |
| Flight altitude | Sea skimming |
| Maximum speed | Mach 0,8-0,9 |
Guidance system |
|
Launch platform | Naval ships, aircraft, helicopters, coastal installations |
Sea Killer was initially developed during the 1960s and has been deployed by at least six countries. It was used during the Iran–Iraq War, with at least six ships being hit.
Contraves Italiana, an Italian subsidiary of the Swiss armaments company Oerlikon Contraves, began development of a short-ranged - 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) - ship-based anti-ship missile system, named Nettuno in 1963. Guidance of Nettuno was by beam riding for course control, with altitude controlled automatically by an onboard radar altimeter, allowing the missile to carry out sea-skimming attacks. Command guidance was an alternative guidance method if jamming made the beam-riding method unusable. In 1965, Contraves Italiana began work on an improved missile, Vulcano, which used the same guidance system, but included a two-stage (booster + sustainer) rocket motor to give a longer (25 kilometres (16 mi)) range. Both missiles could be fired from a five-round trainable launcher.[7][8]
Testing of Nettuno began in 1966,[9] with a trial installation being made on the Freccia-class patrol boat Saetta of the Italian navy, with the five-round launcher replacing a Bofors 40 mm gun.[10] Testing of Vulcano began in 1969.[2]
_1977.jpg)
In 1967, the Italian company Sistel (Sistemi Elettronici) was set up as a joint venture by five Italian companies, including Contraves Italiana, and the missile division of Contraves Italiana was transferred to Sistel, along with the Nettuno and Vulcano missiles in 1969.[11] Nettuno and Vulcano were renamed Sea Killer Mark 1 and 2 respectively for export, and these names gradually replaced the older names.[12]
Sea Killer Mark 2 was purchased by Iran to arm its Saam class of four frigates, each of which was fitted with a single five-round launcher.[13] No other sales of the ship-based version were made,[1] but development of Sea Killer Mark 2 into an all-weather anti-ship missile to equip the Italian Navy's helicopters began in 1967,[14] with the helicopter-based weapon system being named Marte.[15]
Marte entered service with the Italian Navy in 1977, with its Sikorsky SH-3 Sea Kings being fitted with two Sea Killer Mark 2 missiles.[16] In 1983, a new version, Marte 2, was announced, with the beam-riding guidance replaced by an active radar homing seeker based on that used by the Otomat anti-ship missile.[16][17] Testing of Marte 2 started in 1984,[18] and the missile entered service with the Italian Navy in 1987.[16]
The Marte ER, an improvement on the missile family, replaced the rocket motor with Williams WJ-24-8G turbojet propulsion and added a new ISO-caliber cylinder cell, which made it shorter in length but extended its range to over 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi). Fitting trials of the Marte-ER onto the NH90 helicopter, which can carry two missiles, occurred in June 2014; a larger anti-ship missile like the Exocet was rejected for integration as physically too long and heavy.
In November 2015, a Eurofighter Typhoon was fit-tested for a fixed-wing version of the missile called the Marte-ERP, which does not feature folding fins and sheds the booster for a larger 120 kg (265 lb) warhead with penetrating and sector-blast properties; though smaller than other options like the Harpoon and RBS-15, a fighter like Eurofighter Typhoon can carry six Marte-ERPs (or four with fuel tanks) compared to two or three larger missiles.[19][20][21][22]
The Marte ER completed its final test firing in November 2021.[23] Full-scale production began in late March 2022[24] and it then began deliveries to its launch customer, the Qatari Emiri Navy.[25]
Iran's Sea Killer Mk 2 saw combat service during the Iran–Iraq War, being used to attack merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf, with at least six ships being hit.[1][16]
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