The AS-20 (Type 5110) was a French

air-to-surface missile An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common prop ...

developed during the late 1950s. It was similar to the U.S.

AGM-12 Bullpup The AGM-12 Bullpup is a short-range air-to-ground missile developed by Martin Marietta for the US Navy. It is among the earliest precision guided air-to-ground weapons and the first to be mass produced. It first saw operational use in 1959 on the ...

missile.

Development

The AS-20 was based on an earlier

Nord Aviation Nord-Aviation ( en, Northern Aviation) was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. The bulk of its facilities were based on the site of Bourges airport, in the département of Cher, in central France. On 1 October 1954, Nord Aviation was cr ...

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...

the AA.20 (designated Type 5103). Only minor changes were required to make it an air-to-surface missile, the size of the

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Explosiv ...

was increased as a result of replacing the large

proximity fuze A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a Fuze (munitions), fuze that detonates an Explosive material, explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for targets such ...

with a simple impact fuze.

Design

The AS-20 had four steeply swept-back fins, cruciform in cross-section around the midsection of its body. It used a

dual-thrust In a dual-thrust solid propellant rocket engine, the propellant mass is composed of two different types (densities) of fuel. In the case of a tandem dual-thrust motor, the fuel nearest to the rocket nozzle burns fast, and the fuel further into the ...

solid rocket motor A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persia ...

, which

exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law *Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law **Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in p ...

ed through two large

nozzles A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...

during the boost stage, and a single center line nozzle during the sustain stage. The AS-20 uses a simple

MCLOS Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is steered with a ...

guidance with the pilot aligning the flares on the missile's rear with the target and controlling the missile in flight after launch with a small

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

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 Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...

by the movement of one of four metal vanes around the center sustainer nozzle. The missile's internal gyro gives the missile command unit, the correct position of the missile in flight, and to which of the four thrust vanes to actuate at the correct time.

Operational history

Approximately 8,000 of the missiles were built, with the missile entering service in 1961. The AS-20 was one of the primary weapons of the

Fiat G.91 The Fiat G.91 is an Italian jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, which later merged into Aeritalia. The G.91 has its origins in the NATO-organised NBMR-1 competition in 1953, which sought a light fighter-bomber (offici ...

of the West German Air Force and Italian Air Force during the 1960s and 1970s. It was phased out of service in most countries in the 1970s, being replaced in France by the larger

AS-30 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, an ...

Operators

Former operators

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References

{{Reflist * https://web.archive.org/web/20111211034704/http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_08.html#m2 Cold War air-to-surface missiles of France Air-to-surface missiles of France Military equipment introduced in the 1960s