Mistral (missile)

Mistral
Mistral mounted on a truck platform of the 54th Artillery Regiment
Type	Manportable surface-to-air missile
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1988 – Present
Used by	See Operators
Wars	Second Congo War
Production history
Designer	MBDA
Manufacturer	MBDA
Specifications
Length	1.86 m
Diameter	90 mm
Crew	1
Effective firing range	up to 6 km
Warhead	High Explosive with high density Tungsten balls
Warhead weight	2.95 kg
Detonation mechanism	Laser proximity or impact triggered
Engine	Solid Rocket Motor
Maximum speed	800 m/s, approx. Mach 2.6 (high supersonic)
Guidance system	Infrared homing

Mistral is an infrared homing surface-to-air missile manufactured by the European multinational company MBDA missile systems (formerly by Matra BAe Dynamics). Based on the French SATCP (Sol-Air À Très Courte Portée), the portable missile later to become the Mistral began development in 1974. It was initially deployed in 1988 for the first version (S1) and 1997 for the second version (M2).

Weapon platforms

The basic Mistral missile is used with a man-portable launch unit. There are also launch units that allow the missile to be fired from armoured vehicles, ships or helicopters (such as the Aérospatiale Gazelle, Denel Rooivalk, or Eurocopter Tiger). To reject the flares ejected from the rear of the targeted aircraft, proportional navigation using a gyro as a reference is adopted for Mistral, instead of the pursuit method in earlier IR-guided MANPADS. To further enhance the ECCM capability, the seeker of Mistral has a very narrow field of view to reject decoys and interference, but the seeker can tilt in the range of +/- 38 degrees. On the launcher, the missile runs up the gyro in 2 seconds, and total reaction time is 5 seconds. The all-aspect two-color (2-4 and 3-5 µm) cooled IR-seeker of Mistral is developed by SAT, and the missile adopts both laser proximity and impact fuzes.

A close-in weapon system based on Mistral is a six-missile version called Sadral, with a stabilized rapid-reload launcher that is fully automated. A CSEE developed fire control director is integrated to the launcher, consisted of TV camera and FLIR. Image produced by both directors appear on the screen in the operator console below deck, and the missiles are locked onto the target before being launched. A fully loaded Sadral launcher weighs 1080 kg, and the operator console weighs 280 kg. A two-missile unit installed on ships is called Simbad, and a newly launched four-missile version is called Tetral. An evolution of the Simbad is now proposed: Simbad RC. Both Tetral and Simbad RC are remote controlled from the ship's deck while the original Simbad is manually operated with a simple optical sight.

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  Mounted system on an ACMAT truck of the 54th Artillery regiment
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  Simbad missile defense system
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  Sadral missile defense system on the Dupleix

Inventory

Mistral entered series production in 1989 and is now deployed by 37 armed forces of 25 countries (eight countries in Europe, eight in the Asia-Pacific, five in South America, three in the Middle East), including Austria, Belgium, the Brazilian Marine Corps, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, and Venezuela.

Combat performance

The Mistral's operational use encompasses the firing of more than 2,000 missiles, with a success rate of 95% during training

Mistral missiles used by the Rwandan forces in the Second Congo War shot down a Zimbabwean Air Force BAe Hawk fighter on March 23, 1999.

Submarine Air Defence Weapon

On 26 September 2012 DCNS at the company's Le Mourillon plant announced plans to design and build a submarine canister-based air defence weapon based on the Mistral. The concept is similar to the British Submarine Launched Airflight Missile developed by Vickers in the 1970s and tested on HMS Aeneas and three boats of the Gal-class.

Operators

Map with Mistral operators in blue

Mistral missile launch during a joint French-Romanian military exercise. (Capu Midia firing range).

Current operators

Austria

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Chile

Cyprus

Colombia

Ecuador

Estonia

Finland

France

Hungary

Indonesia

Iran

Israel

Kenya

Lebanon

Morocco

Norway

New Zealand

Oman

Pakistan

Philippines

Rwanda

Singapore

South Korea

Spain

Thailand

Venezuela

Former operators

Belgium

Images

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See also

• Anza (missile)
• FIM-92 Stinger
• Grom (missile)
• Starstreak missile
• 9K38 Igla
• RBS 70
• QW-3

External links

• Video of a Mistral missile being fired
• MBDA MISTRAL family