The SAAB RB05 (abbreviation of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: Robot 05, "Missile 05"), contemporarily named AT 3 internally, was a short-range

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 ...

with limited air-to-air capability that was developed in the 1960s by the Swedish company Saab-Scania, Missiles and Electronics for the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...

History

The RB 05 was developed as a ground attack missile for the AJ 37 Viggen in 1967, and was issued for operative use in 1972.

Use

The missile would usually be launched after a high-speed attack run on very low altitude and climb to 400 m for launch. The supersonic speed was deemed necessary to reduce the threat of surface-to-air missiles. Since RB 05 was roll-stabilized, the aircraft did not need to be aimed straight at the target when launching, and would immediately descend again. Tracking the flares on the missile, the pilot would then guide the missile optically (the missile's

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

was smokeless as to not obscure the view) with a joystick towards the target. Guidance commands were transmitted to the missile via a jam-proof radio transmission link.

Operators

;: *

: operated the RB 05 on the AJ, AJSF and AJS 37 Viggen strike fighters and The Sk 60B and C light attackers.

Variants

* RB 05 A : initial variant with

radio guidance Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small ...

, aimed optically using a tracer. * RB 05 B : prototyped TV-guided variant. Tested in the early 1970s but the design was scrapped in favour of adopting the

AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, ...

(RB 75) for economic reasons. * RB 05 C : proposed command/IR guided version. During use the pilot would aim the aircraft on to the target. In the aircraft there would be an IR sensor that measured in the missile and gave data to the aircraft computer, which calculated control signals for the robot. Not much is known. Cancelled.

Similar missiles

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 ...

AS-20 The AS-20 (Type 5110) was a French air-to-surface missile developed during the late 1950s. It was similar to the U.S. AGM-12 Bullpup missile. Development The AS-20 was based on an earlier Nord Aviation air-to-air missile the AA.20 (designated Ty ...

* Kh-23

References

Notes

External links

In Swedish

{Unreliable source?, date=March 2018 Guided missiles of Sweden Military equipment introduced in the 1970s