Masurca (surface to air missile)

Masurca
Masurca missile on launcher
Type	Surface-to-air
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1968 to 2009
Used by	France
Production history
Designed	1960
Manufacturer	ECAN Ruelle
Produced	1966
Variants	Mk1, Mk2 mod2 and Mk2 mod3
Specifications
Weight	950 kg (2,090 lb) + 1,148 kg (2,531 lb) booster
Length	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in) + 3.32 m (10 ft 11 in) booster
Diameter	0.406 m (1 ft 4.0 in)
Warhead	100 kg (220 lb) HE blast-fragmentation
Detonation mechanism	Proximity fuze
Engine	Matra solid rocket booster and sustainer
Wingspan	0.770 m (2 ft 6.3 in)
Operational range	55 km (34 mi)
Flight ceiling	20,000–30,000 m (66,000–98,000 ft)
Speed	Mach 3.0
Guidance system	Inertial initial and Semi-active radar homing terminal
Steering system	Control surfaces
Launch platform	ship

The Masurca missile was a first-generation naval surface-to-air missile system developed and used by the French Navy. Planned as the primary air defence missile system of the first generation of French guided missile ships, it was used only aboard the two Suffren-class frigates and as a retrofit to the cruiser Colbert.

In 1948 France embarked on a number of programs to develop guided missile systems, the aim being to keep pace with the other Great Powers. The proliferation of high-speed threats, be they underwater, surface or aerial threats, required the development of effective defences. High-priority programs were initiated to cover all areas: anti-aircraft, anti-surface and anti-submarine. Of these programs two achieved operational status; these were:

France had already been working on an anti-aircraft missile the Maruca, derived from the wartime German Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling. Although the MARUCA program was ultimately abandoned because of impracticability, experience from its development would not go to waste.

In 1955 ECAN de Ruelle began work on a supersonic missile using solid-propellants. The MASURCA was a DTCN (Direction Technique des Constructions Navales i.e. Naval Construction Department) program working through ECAN de Ruelle and Matra.

The first tests were made on the Île du Levant, the focus moving in 1960 to the Ile d'Oléron in a building especially built for experimentation. 50 test firings would be made in the period up to 1968, concluding with operational validation aboard the then newly commissioned frigate Suffren.

After the initial version, known as the Mark 1, came the Mark 2 which benefited from knowledge and technology transfer from the United States. France was in the process of modernising its T 47-class fleet escorts and it received data from the RIM-2 Terrier program offered by the United States as equipment for Dupetit-Thouars, and experience from the deployment of the RIM-24 Tartar aboard Kersaint, Bouvet, and Du Chayla.