Design
With the missile weighing only 320 pounds (150 kg) at launch, a Lynx helicopter can carry up to four (two on each wing pylon). The booster is a Royal Ordnance (now Roxel UK) "Redstart" steel body, while the sustainer is a Royal Ordnance "Matapan" light alloy body. The missile flies at high subsonic speed to a range of up to 15.5 miles (24.9 km). The official range is declared to be 15 km, but this is widely exceeded. The missile has two sensors: a semi-active radar homing system by Marconi Defence Systems, and a Thomson-TRT AHV-7 radar altimeter (which is also used by the Exocet missile), built under licence by British Aerospace Defence Systems.
It can be set to travel at one of four pre-selected heights, depending on the surface conditions. Near the target, the missile climbs to a height at which it can "acquire" the target. The launching helicopter illuminates the target with its radar (originally the specially developed Ferranti Seaspray in the case of the Lynx), and the missile's homing head homes in on the reflected energy. On impact it penetrates the hull of a ship before detonating the 62 pounds (28 kg) blast fragmentation warhead. The semi armour piercing (SAP) warhead has 9 kilograms (20 lb) of RDX, aluminium and wax. The fuze is an impact-delayed model.
The illuminating radar aboard Lynx helicopters is the GEC-Ferranti Seaspray I band, which weighs 64 kilograms (140 lb), a power of 90 kW, two modes (three in the improved model) and a 90° observation field. The Seaspray Mk. 3 had a rotating antenna with a 360° field of view. It is capable of operating in a track while scan (TWS) mode. The missile flight ends after 75–125 seconds, while the helicopter is capable of manoeuvering at up to 80° from the missile path.
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