Nimrod (missile)
{{Short description|Israeli air-to-surface missile}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2021}}
File:Paris Air Show 2007-06-24 n27.jpg]]
The Nimrod is a long-range air-to-surface missile developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. While designed for mainly anti-tank warfare, it provides standoff strike ability against a variety of point targets such as armoured personnel carriers (APCs), ships, bunkers, personnel concentrations, and guerrillas.
Nimrod has a semi-active laser guidance system that operates day or night. Its flight trajectory can be set below obscuring cloud layers, while a forward reconnaissance scout team uses a laser designator to direct it from up to {{convert|26|km|mi|abbr=on}}.
Nimrod may be installed on a variety of towed launchers, light combat vehicle launchers, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft. The primary helicopter launch platform for the Nimrod in the Israel Defense Forces is a modified Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter. The launching vehicle or aircraft may fire up to 4 Nimrods at once from a single pack.
Description
Nimrod is a long-range semi-active laser-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), developed by the MBT Weapon System Division. It has a solid-propellant rocket and can operate day or night. It can also serve as an anti-ship missile.
Nimrod allows a gunner to pre-select a flight trajectory mode. This can be direct trajectory, high cruise trajectory or low cruise trajectory, the cruise altitude being constant and between {{convert|300|-|1,500|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Mid-course guidance is provided by an inertial navigation system, and terminal guidance by a semi-active laser homing seeker. The target can be illuminated either by a ground-based or airborne laser designator.
The gimballed and stabilised seeker head acquires, tracks and homes in on its target using localised proportional navigation. It is said to have a view angle of more than 30°. The seeker has a search area {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide and deep. In the terminal flight phase, the weapon adopts a dive angle of approximately 45° to strike an armoured target on the thinner, more vulnerable upper surfaces.
The missile is stored in a sealed canister which also acts as the launcher. Total weight of the missile and canister is {{convert|150|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. It has five main sections: seeker, guidance and control, warhead, solid-propellant rocket motor, and servo. It is roll-stabilised in flight. Time to come into action at a launch site is less than 3 minutes; there is no need to survey the site for alignment or levelling, nor does it require a direct line of sight to a target. The weapon can be fired in single-round, ripple, or salvo modes.
Characteristics
- Effective range: 300 - 36,000 meters
- Length: 265 cm
- Diameter: 17 cm
- Body: 18 cm
- Span 40 cm
- Weight: 100 kg
- Speed: ~1000 km/h or Mach 0.8
- Propulsion: Single stage solid-propellant rocket motor
- Guidance: Semi-active laser homing
- Warhead: High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), fragmentation high explosive (HE), thermobaric, or anti-personnel
Variants
{{As of|2022}}, three Nimrod versions exist:
- Nimrod 2 – A dual guidance, laser and Global Positioning System (GPS), homing missile, with a range of {{convert|26|km|mi|abbr=on}}, and a mobile launcher. The warhead is {{convert|14|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, and the missile supports various warheads for a variety of targets. This missile is well suited to rapid response and for coastal defence.
- Nimrod 3 – An extended variant of Nimrod 2. The missile has a range of {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} with {{convert|50|kg|lb|abbr=on}} warhead. It supports various warheads for a wide range of targets, and has a mobile launcher.
- Nimrod SR – A short-range ({{convert|8|km|mi|abbr=on}}) variant that can be fired from ground and airborne platforms.{{cite news |url=https://www.deagel.com/Defensive%20Weapons/Nimrod/a001040 |title=Nimrod |website=Deagel |access-date=3 August 2021}}
Operators
=Current operators=
- {{ISR}}
- {{COL}}
Comparable systems
- {{lwc|Spike (missile)|Spike NLOS}}
- {{lwc|AGM-169 Joint Common Missile}}
See also
- LAHAT, renamed Nimrod-SR for the Latin American market.{{cite news |last=Eshel |first=Tamir |date=27 March 2012 |url=http://defense-update.com/20120327_ram-mkiii-armored-vehicle-rough-and-tough.html |title=RAM MkIII Armored Vehicle: Rough and Tough |website=Defense Update |access-date=30 July 2021 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-Air-Launched-Weapons/Nimrod-Mikhol-Mikholit-Israel.html Nimrod (Mikhol, Mikholit) missile] at Jane's
- [http://www.deagel.com/Anti-Armor-Weapons-and-Missiles/Nimrod-3_a001040002.aspx Nimrod 3 extended range] at Deagel.com
{{IAI aircraft}}
Category:Air-to-surface missiles