The

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

Super 530 is a French short to medium-range air-to-air missile. The Super 530 series is an improved type of the R.530

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...

. *Super 530F is carried on the Dassault Mirage F1. It was introduced in 1979. *Super 530D is carried on the Dassault-Breguet Mirage 2000. It was introduced in 1988. The Super 530F and Super 530D share the same general aerodynamic features and internal layout with cruciform low aspect ratio wings, cruciform aft controls, and 30 kg high explosive fragmentation warhead. However the 530D has a lengthened stainless steel body. This allows it to accommodate a more powerful dual-thrust solid propellant motor and a new seeker assembly. The new seeker includes doppler filtering for improved low altitude performance and digital micro-processing to enable the seeker to be reprogrammed against new threats. The 530D has a claimed maximum interception altitude of , with a snap-up capability of , and a snap-down capability to targets at . The missile has a range of 40 km and a maximum speed of less than Mach 5. The Super 530 is being replaced by the MICA missile.

Operational service

During the Iran-Iraq War, the

Iraqi Air Force The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...

used Super 530F missiles on their Mirage F1s against Iran. On 14 September 1983, in an incident that was revealed thirty years later, two Turkish F-100Fs violated Iraqi airspace and one was shot down by an Iraqi Mirage F1EQ firing a Super 530F missile. The Turkish pilots survived and returned to Turkey. On 15 July 2019, during a police operation in Northern Italy, a functioning Super 530F missile was seized together with firearms. The missile lacked the warhead. The weapons were smuggled by a group of people connected to far-right movements. The missile canister indicated it was originally sold to the Qatari armed forces. The original contract date with Qatar was October 1980. A Super 530 missile with a live warhead was discovered at Florida's

Lakeland Linder International Airport Lakeland Linder International Airport is a public airport five miles southwest of Lakeland, in Polk County, Florida. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a nati ...

on 14 August 2020 and had to be removed by explosive ordnance disposal specialists from the U.S. Air Force's 6th Civil Engineering Squadron at nearby

MacDill Air Force Base MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

. The missile had been inadvertently shipped to the U.S. defense contractor, Draken International, LLC, an airport tenant.

Operators

Current operators

* * *

Former operators

* * * Super 530F * * * * *

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

Similar weapons

* AIM-7 Sparrow * R-23 (missile) *

R-27 (air-to-air missile) The Vympel R-27 (NATO reporting name AA-10 Alamo) is a family of air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union. It remains in service with the Russian Air Force, air forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States and air forces of many o ...

References

Super 530 Matra Military equipment introduced in the 1970s {{Missile-stub