Hirondelle naval SAM system

[SOC]

I found a reference to the French Hirondelle naval SAM system in an old book, Jane's Pocket Book of Missiles (1975).

Hirondelle is described as being based on the Super 530 and designed for "point defence against aircraft and cruise missile attacks." The book suggests it was "intended especially for naval use and particularly for fitting to small fighting ships such as fast patrol boats." Given the timeline involved it was probably based on the Super 530F and is possibly a conceptual follow-on to the earlier Mandragore effort.

Some more info, albeit unsourced: https://premium.globalsecurity.org/military/world//europe/hirondelle.htm

One assumes that Hirondelle was abandoned because of 1) money and 2) it's possible Tartar and Masurca were viewed as sufficient, but I've not found anything to suggest why it never proceeded.

 

[Hood]

A stalking horse against the Sea Crotale perhaps?

 

[TomS]

Attached is a photo from the 74-75 Jane's Weapon Systems. Not much in the way of additional details, except that the system could include one or more launchers, each with either 4 or 8 missiles. There is an associated tracking and fire control radar (the dark black dome, presumably) that could also provide gun fire control. The system was capable of tracking targets down to an altitude of a few meters and could be fitted on ships as small as 200 tons.

The overall system was an Electronique Marcel Dassault project. It seems to have been a private initiative; Jane's does not mention any official support. It began around 1971 and was supposed to be operational by 1977.

 

[fortrena]

If I may...

Électronique Marcel Dassault (EMD) announced at the 1971 edition of the Salon International de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace that it was working on a short range all weather naval defence system against anti-ship missiles launched by aircraft or ships, the Hirondelle. The new weapon system was to be mounted on fast attack craft / missile boats of 200 tons or less.

By late 1972, the information released by EMD indicated that the Hirondelle might be an anti-aircraft weapon system which would use a variant of the Matra Super 530 air to air missile. By that date, however, the limitations of the French defence budget meant that the development of an entirely new short range air defence system was quite unlikely. Indeed, at the time, the French Marine nationale seemed to be more interested in navalised versions of land based systems like the Thomson-CSF Crotale and Euromissile Roland than in the Hirondelle.

By mid 1973, the anti-aircraft version of the Super 530 missile was known as the Hirondelle T. Oddly enough, it was seemingly to be launched from land as part of an air defence system consisting of 2 or more (self propelled?) quadruple launchers and 2 or (more self-propelled?) twin 35 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons, with a truck mounted radar set. As interesting as the Hirondelle T missile might have been, its chances of success seemed slim. Indeed, it seemingly disappeared from view shortly thereafter. In the end, the Marine nationale went with the navalised Crotale. Mind you, the land based Crotale and Roland were respectively adopted by the French Armée de l'air and Armée de terre.