Super 530

The Matra Super 530 is a French short to medium-range air-to-air missile. The Super 530 series is an improved type of the R.530 missile.

Matra Super 530
Its predecessor, the R530, the Super 530F, and the Super 530D missiles
Specifications
MassSuper 530F: 245 kg
Super 530D: 270 kg
LengthSuper 530F: 3.54 m
Super 530D: 3.80 m
Diameter263 mm
Warhead30 kg high-explosive fragmentation
Detonation
mechanism
Super 530F: RF
Super 530D: Active Radar
EngineSolid-fuel rocket motor
WingspanSuper 530F: 0.88 m
Super 530D: 0.62 m
Operational
range
Super 530F: 25 km
Super 530D: 40 km
Maximum speed Super 530F: Mach 4.5
Super 530D: Mach <5.0
Guidance
system
Semi-active radar homing (SARH)[1]

The Super 530F and Super 530D share the same general aerodynamic features and internal layout with cruciform low aspect ratio wings, cruciform aft controls, and 30 kg high explosive fragmentation warhead. However the 530D has a lengthened stainless steel body. This allows it to accommodate a more powerful dual-thrust solid propellant motor and a new seeker assembly. The new seeker includes doppler filtering for improved low altitude performance and digital micro-processing to enable the seeker to be reprogrammed against new threats.[1]

The 530D has a claimed maximum interception altitude of 24,400 m (80,100 ft), with a snap-up capability of 12,200 m (40,000 ft), and a snap-down capability to targets at 60 m (200 ft). The missile has a range of 40 km and a maximum speed of less than Mach 5.[1]

The Super 530 is being replaced by the MICA missile.

Operational service

During the Iran-Iraq War, during the 1980s, the Iraqi Air Force used them on their Mirage F1 against Iran.

On 14 September 1983, in an incident that was revealed thirty years later, two Turkish F-100F violated Iraqi air space and one was shot down by an Iraqi Mirage F1EQ firing a Super 530F missile. The Turkish pilots survived and returned to Turkey.[2]

On 15 July 2019, during a police operation in Northern Italy, a functioning Super 530F missile was seized together with firearms. The missile lacked the warhead.[3] The weapons were smuggled by a group of people connected to far-right movements.[4] The missile canister indicated it was originally sold to the Qatari armed forces.[5][6][7] The original contract date with Qatar was October 1980.[8]

An S530 missile with a live warhead was discovered at Florida's Lakeland Linder International Airport on 14 August 2020 and had to be removed by explosive ordnance disposal specialists from the U.S. Air Force's 6th Civil Engineering Squadron at nearby MacDill Air Force Base. The missile had been inadvertently shipped to the U.S. defense contractor, Draken International, LLC, an airport tenant.[9]

Operators
Map with Super 530   current and   former operators.

Current operators

Former operators

Similar weapons

References
  1. "R530 and SUPER 530 « PakDef Military Consortium". Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  2. https://theaviationist.com/2012/09/06/tuaf-incidents/
  3. https://www.nextquotidiano.it/fabio-del-bergiolo-missile-aria-aria-in-vendita-whatsapp/
  4. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28976/italian-cops-raid-neo-fascists-and-find-air-to-air-missile-that-france-had-sold-to-qatar
  5. https://gulfnews.com/world/europe/italy-seizes-missile-from-far-right-sympathisers-1.65243569
  6. https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/613602/article/2019-07-15/un-missile-francais-decouvert-chez-des-neonazis-italiens
  7. "Italian cops detain 3 men, seize guns, a missile and Nazi plaques". CBS News. July 15, 2019.
  8. David Brennan (15 July 2019). "Machine Guns, Assault Rifles and Air-to-Air Missile Seized From Neo-Nazi Group in Italy". Newsweek. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  9. Ileana Najarro (18 August 2020). "Live missile found at Lakeland airport awaits disposal at MacDill". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 19 August 2020.


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