AS-30

AS-30
Early AS.30 radio command guidance
Type	MCLOS with radio command link / laser guided short-to-medium range air-to-ground missile
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1985
Used by	See "Operators" section
Production history
Manufacturer	Aérospatiale
Produced	1973
Specifications
Weight	520 kg (1,146 lb)
Length	3.7 m (12 ft 1 in)
Diameter	340mm (13 in)
Warhead	240 kg (529 lb) impact-fuzed SAPHE (Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive)
Detonation mechanism	Delayed AP impact fuse (2 m ferroconcrete)
Engine	Two-stage solid propellant rocket motors, composite booster, double-based sustainer
Wingspan	1 m (3.2 ft)
Operational range	Minimum range: 3 km (1.8 mi) Maximum range: 11 km (6.8 mi)
Flight ceiling	10,000 m (32,800 ft)
Speed	1,700 km/h (1,056 mph)
Guidance system	semi-active laser homing
Launch platform	Mirage 2000D, Mirage 2000-5, F-16, Jaguar, Mirage F1, upgraded Super Etendard, Rafale

External images

AS-30L laser homing air to ground missile

French Air Force F1 Mirage firing AS-30L

French Air Force Jaguar test firing AS-30L with laser homing pod located on center-line pylon

AS-30L test against simulated concrete aircraft bunker

Minimum range: 3 km (1.8 mi)

The AS-30 was an air-to-ground missile built by Nord Aviation. It was a precision attack weapon designed to be used against high-value targets such as bridges and bunkers. The AS-30 was essentially a larger version of the earlier AS-20 design, and initially used that weapon's guidance system, which required pilots to track the weapon visually and correct its path using a small joystick, while also flying their own aircraft. All such MCLOS systems proved very difficult to use in practice. The updated AS-30L replaced this system with a semi-active laser homing system, which allows the missile to fly to the target without operator intervention. About 60 AS-30Ls were launched during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Deliberate Force with great success.

The first AS-30 was a development of the 1960s Nord AS-20, to allow both an increase in range and a much larger warhead, and is almost identical to the earlier AS-20 in design. The AS-30 has four large steeply swept back fins such as those on the AS-20, cruciform in cross-section around the midsection of its body. However, because of its larger size, the AS-30 in addition has four smaller fins at the rear of the missile body to increase stability in flight.

The AS-30 has a two-stage solid-fuel rocket motor. A short-burn-time booster section exhausts through two large nozzles located midway between the rear edges of the missile's large fins, after which a longer-burn-time sustainer ignites, and exhausts through a nozzle located at the center of the back of the missile body. As with the AS-20, the AS-30 uses a simple MCLOS guidance with the pilot aligning the flares located near the missile's rear with the target and controlling the missile in flight after launch with a small joystick, sending steering commands to the missile via a radio link. The steering commands steer the missile back to the line-of-sight by thrust vectoring, by the movement of one of four metal vanes around the sustainer nozzle. The missile's internal gyro gives the missile command unit the correct position of the missile in flight, so each of the four thrust vanes can actuate at the correct time to steer the missile back to the correct flight path.