Aspide (the Italian name for the

asp Asp may refer to: Places * Asp, part of Densbüren, Aargau, Switzerland * Aspe (''Asp'' in Valencian), Alicante, Spain * Asp Lake, a lake in Minnesota Animals * Asp (fish) * Asp (snake), in antiquity, one of several venomous snakes ** ''Cera ...

) is an Italian medium range air-to-air and

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

produced by Selenia (then by Alenia Aeronautica, now a part of

Leonardo S.p.A. Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

). It is provided with

semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range Air-to-air missile, air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is ...

seeker. It is very similar to the American

AIM-7 Sparrow The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...

, using the same airframe, but uses an

inverse monopulse seeker An inverse monopulse seeker is a type of semi-active radar homing that offers significant advantages over earlier designs. The system requires electronics that can compare three signals at once, so this design did not become practically possible u ...

that is far more accurate and much less susceptible to

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

than the original conical scanning version. This resemblance, and that Selenia was provided with the technology know-how of the AIM-7 (around 1,000 of which it had produced under licence), has generally led non-Italian press to refer to the Aspide as a Sparrow variant. However, the Aspide had original electronics and warhead, and a new and more powerful engine. Closed-loop hydraulics were also substituted for Sparrow's open-loop type, which gave Aspide better downrange maneuverability. Even the control surfaces are different, replacing the original triangular wings, fixed in the air-to-air and instead foldable in the surface-to-air version, to a newly designed common

cropped delta A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

fixed version. A similar design is the UK's Skyflash, which entered service about the same time. The US's own Sparrow fleet also added a monopulse seeker in the AIM-7M versions of 1982.

Design

Aspide, in its various versions, was used both in the air-to-air role, carried by Aeritalia F-104s in the apposite versions F-104S and F-104ASA, and in the surface-to-air naval role. In the latter role it has been replaced by the MBDA Aster. Naval Aspide launchers can be adapted to fire the

Sparrow Sparrow may refer to: Birds * Old World sparrows, family Passeridae * New World sparrows, family Passerellidae * two species in the Passerine family Estrildidae: ** Java sparrow ** Timor sparrow * Hedge sparrow, also known as the dunnock or hedg ...

by merely switching a single circuit board. In the mid 1980s, China imported a small batch of the Aspide Mk.1 from Italy, then signed an agreement with Alenia to produce the missile locally under license. In 1989, China produced its first batch of Aspide Mk.1 missiles using imported parts from Italy. However, due to the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

arms embargo imposed after the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, China was unable to purchase additional Aspide kits. China subsequently developed its own missile family based on the Aspide Mk.1, with surface to air versions designated as the

LY-60 The HQ-6, also known as LY-60, is a family of Chinese air defense missiles developed by the Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology, largely based on the Chinese PL-11 and Italian Selenia (now as Leonardo S.p.A.) Aspide missile. Development ...

, and an air-to-air version designated as

PL-11 PL-11 is a high-level machine-oriented programming language for the PDP-11, developed by R.D. Russell of CERN in 1971. Written in Fortran IV, it is similar to PL360 PL360 (or PL/360) is a system programming language designed by Niklaus Wirth a ...

. The rocket engine of the Aspide is produced by Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan. It weighs about 75 kg and produces 50 kN of thrust for 3.5 s.

Variants

* Aspide Mk.1 – Similar to

AIM-7E The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces a ...

, with Selenia monopulse semi-active seeker and SNIA-Viscosa solid-propellant rocket motor. This version was popular with export customers, and sold to 17 countries. The surface-to-air systems are Skyguard and Spada. * Aspide Mk.2 – Improved version with active radar-homing seeker. Development was shelved in favor of better missiles, such as the

AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM (pronounced ), is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It is 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter, and employs ...

. * Aspide 2000 – Improved surface-to-air version of the Aspide Mk.1, used on export Skyguard and

Spada 2000 Spada is the Italian word for ''sword'' and a surname of Italian origin. It may refer to: People * Bernardino Spada (1594–1661), Italian Roman Catholic cardinal; patron of the arts * Constanza Spada, stage name of Italian actress, singer and mod ...

air-defense systems. * Aspide Citedef – Surface-to-air version of the Aspide Mk.1 upgraded by

Citedef The Institute of Scientific and Technical Research for Defense ( es, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa, also known for its acronym CITEDEF), is an Argentine federal agency in charge of research and development ...

Systems

Skyguard Sparrow Misslie Launcher Display at Ching Chuang Kang AFB 20161126a

* Skyguard I – VSHORAD/SHORAD from Oerlikon Contraves with radar tracking, upgradeable to support Aspide 2000. * Skyguard II – Improved VSHORAD/SHORAD from Oerlikon Contraves with added electro-optical tracking. *

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

– Skyguard with Skydor fire control system from Navantia and Aspide launchers. * Spada – SHORAD from Selenia with Selenia PLUTO 2D radar, upgradeable to support Aspide 2000. *

– Improved SHORAD from Alenia Aeronautica with Thomson-CSF RAC 3D radar. * Albatros Mk.2 – Naval SHORAD from Selenia, upgradeable to support Aspide 2000.

Operators

;: - MEKO 360 ships, 150 Mk1 ordered in 1979 and delivered in 1983-1984 ;: - 100 Aspide 2000 ordered in 1996 and delivered in 2001-2004 - São Paulo aircraft carrier, ''Niterói'' class frigates ;: - 90 Aspide Mk.1 ordered in 1986 and delivered in 1987-1991. Technology used in development of PL-11 ;: - 130 used in existing Skyguard system; ordered in 1991 and delivered in 1991-1992 (deal worth $114 m included 12 launchers) ;: - 50 used on Esmeraldas Class Corvette (variant of Fincantieri Tipo 550); ordered in 1979 and delivered in 1982-1984 ;: – 72 used on Descubierta (Abu Qir) class corvettes; ordered in 1983 and delivered in 1984 ;: - 75 for Elli-class frigates (variant of Kortenaer-class); ordered in 1980 and delivered in 1981-198 Batteria

;: - used on-board F-104S; used on 7 Spada SAM batteries; used on 24 Skyguard SAM batteries; used on 32 naval Albatros Mk.2 SAM system ;: - 320 ordered in 1988 and delivered in 1988-1997 for Skyguard Amoun SAM System; 175 Aspide 2000 ordered in 2007 and delivered in 2008-2010 part of 565 $ m deal, for modernization Aspide; 250 Aspide 2000 ordered in 2007 and delivered in 2008-2013 part of $65 m deal for Skyguard AD systems ;: - 8 ordered in 1978 and delivered in 1983 for use on Albatros Mk.2 SAM on modernised

Libyan frigate Dat Assawari ''Dat Assawari'' was a frigate operated by the Libyan Navy. The ship was built by VT Group in the United Kingdom. It was ordered in February 1968 and delivered in 1973. The ship's design, the Vosper Mk 7 is a modified version of the built for t ...

;: - 18 ordered in 1995 and delivered in 1997 for

Laksamana Class corvette The Laksamana class is a class of small missile corvettes comprising four ships currently in service with the Royal Malaysian Navy. All four ships of the Laksamana class are currently serving in the 24th Corvette Squadron of the Royal Malaysian ...

;: - Used in the frigate 501 Lt. Col. Errhamani (Descubierta); 40 ordered in 1977 and delivered in 1983 ;: - 25 Aspide MK.1 ordered in 1977 and delivered in 1982 for Meko-360 ''Aradu'' frigate; other 10 Aspide MK.1 ordered in 1982 and delivered in 1983 RAC3D

;: - 750 Aspide 2000 for ground-based air defence system (10 batteries Spada 2000) ordered in 2007 and delivered in 2010-2013 part of 415 m Euro deal ;: - 150 ordered in 1974 and delivered in 1979–87 for use on Lupo (Carvajal) class frigate ;: - 200 ordered in 1985 and delivered in 1987–89 part of $230 m deal for 13 Skyguard systems, later upgraded to Skydor, with the missiles retired in 2020; 51 Aspide 2000 ordered in 1996 and delivered in 1997–99 for 2 Spada 2000 SAM systems ;: – 24 ordered in 1984 and delivered in 1986-1987 for use on Ratanakosin Class corvettes; 75 ordered in 1986 and delivered in 1988 for use by Royal Thai army on 1 Spada SAM system ;: - 144 ordered in 1986 and delivered in 1987-1989 for MEKO 200T (Yavuz class) frigate; 72 ordered in 1990 and delivered in 1995-1996 for MEKO 200T-2 (Barbaros class) frigate ;: - 100 ordered in 1975 and delivered in 1980-1982 for use with Albatros Mk.2 SAM system on Lupo Class frigates ;: - Spain will train and gift Ukraine with the Aspide 2000 missile system, with Ukrainian soldiers having finished training on 14 October. On 7 November Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that Ukraine had received the first NASAMS system from the US, along with the Italian made Aspide.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Albatros , Maritime Superiority, Aspide 2000 solution
MDBA Air-to-air missiles of Italy Naval surface-to-air missiles Military equipment introduced in the 1970s