Sea Skua

Graham1973

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I could not find a thread on this missile and I have memories of being told/read somewhere that the missile was specifically developed as a counter to the 'fast attack craft armed with missiles are the future of naval warfare' lobby.
 
I don't think anyone would contest that. Early descriptions of Sea Skua all emphasize its role against FAC-M, and that was its main selling point for the German Navy Sea Kings.
 
It's covered in BSP4 and, with updates and its successors, in The Admiralty and the Helicopter.

Chris
 
Basically Sea Skua was developed to counter craft like the Project 1234 'Nanuchka', which were being provided with beefier anti-aircraft armament such as SAMs.
Such craft were seen as a major surface threat and one that frigates couldn't counter owing to the lack of an anti-ship missile. It was partly down to being cheaper than providing a new missile for the frigates that saw the requirements neatly folded into the Lynx programme. And the Sea Skua did what it was designed to do and probably has the greatest kill ratio of any modern ASM.

As Chris says, the development story is outlined in BSP4 and The Admiralty and the Helicopter.
 
It is worth, for younger readers, explaining background to Sea Skua.

In 1966 the Royal Navy was obliged on cost grounds to give up its new generation of aircraft carriers (CVA01) in favour of a destroyer/frigate based navy (plus a small number of larger ASW helicopter platforms).
The sinking of the Israeli destroyer Eilat in 1967 by Soviet supplied Styx missiles used by Egypt underlined the threat to Royal Navy ships from missile patrol boats being supplied to many nations.
Initially the solution was to fit the WASP anti submarine helicopters on frigates with the SS12 missile bought from France (and used successfully in the Falklands War).
The Sea Skua was designed as the weapon for the WG13 Lynx replacement for WASP with greater range and killing power. It was used in the Falklands and in the Gulf War to destroy a submarine and small units. It would also have degraded capability of Soviet escorts in a general war.
 
BAe. Sea Skua & Sea Skua 2 manufacturers display models (from ebay listing)
 

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Hello,
I am desperately looking for pictures of the shore-based Sea Skua launcher, aka Sea Skua Coastal Defence battery.
British Aerospace Dynamics Division revealed in 1988 that it was studying the feasibility of developing a new land based Coastal Defense Battery variant of the Sea Skua missile. The Coastal Defense Battery is a further development of the ship-launched Sea Skua. The land-based battery used a four-ton truck carrying four canister launchers (probably similar to those to be used on the shipborne version). The vehicle also housed the target acquisition radar and launch control cabin, mounted on top of the system's generator. Radar options included the BAE Systems Seaspray Mk 3, which was already in service on British Royal Navy and Korean Navy Lynx helicopters, and the Thales (formerly MEL) Super Searcher, which had the advantages of a lower personnel requirement and greater mobility. The radar antenna was mounted on a folding mast. Eight or 10 of those single-fire units (having four ready to-fire missiles), under the direction of a single battery command post, could form a sector defense system. Alternatively, individual launch units or pairs could be deployed to control chokepoints.
It has been sold to Kuwait, supposedly.

Gambit
 
https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/amp/uk-complex-weapons/sea-venom/sea-skua-shore-battery/
 

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