Rapier Blindfire Radar
Although accurate and simple to use, the original Rapier system clearly suffered from a lack of all-weather capability. To address this need, BAC started work on a separate radar guidance unit, primarily to improve foreign sales. This led to the introduction of the Marconi DN 181 "Blindfire" radar in 1970, the first examples being sold to the Iranian Army in 1973. The British Army did not purchase the Blindfire system until 1979, entering service with Rapier "Field Standard A" (FSA). By 1997 more than 350 Blindfire radars had been produced.
To ensure accuracy, Blindfire used a very narrow "pencil" beam and tracks both the target and missile. To allow the operator to monitor the Blindfire system when it is tracking the target, the existing optical tracker is slaved to the Blindfire radar, although it is possible for the optical tracker to be manually "laid on" a second target whilst the Blindfire engages the first target. The Blindfire trailer carries its own generator unit, and a third Land Rover (a 12v winch equipped 101 FC) - the Tracking Radar Tractor (TRT) - to tow it.
Tracked Rapier
With sales to Iran came the additional requirement for a mobile version of Rapier. BAC responded by adapting the Rapier system to fit on the M548, a cargo-carrier version of the ubiquitous M113 armored personnel carrier. Development started in 1974 as "Tracked Rapier", but had not yet been delivered when the Shah fell from power in 1978. The vehicles were later purchased by the British Army. The first Tracked Rapiers entered service with 11 (Sphinx) Air Defence Battery, of 22 Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1982-83 in Napier Barracks near Dortmund.
The conversion was relatively simple; the launch unit was placed on the extreme rear of the cargo platform at the rear of the M548 carrier, and the tracking system placed inside the cabin at the front of the vehicle, projecting through the roof through one of the turret bustles. The optical tracker was operated from the left side of the crew cabin, while on the right were the driver and tactical controller. The crew cabin was quite cramped as a result, with the three crewmembers and all of the equipment stuffed into an area originally intended for two men. From moving to firing takes only 30 seconds, a tremendous improvement over Towed Rapier, which requires as much as half an hour to unlimber. The biggest difference between towed and tracked Rapier was that the tracked Rapier launcher has eight missile beams compared with the four of the towed system. Unfortunately the equipment also greatly slowed the vehicle, with cross-country performance reduced to about 15 km/h.
There was no room for Blindfire on a single M548, so this is instead towed or carried on a separate M548. Feeding data to the control system in the firing unit thus requires more setup time to connect the two vehicles. With less internal hardware, the support vehicle was also tasked with carrying field kits, rations and water.
After initially entering service, the Tracked Rapiers were upgraded several times to follow the upgrades being introduced to all Rapier systems. The latest version included a new helmet-mounted sight that allows the tactical controller to quickly slew the tracker onto the target while standing out of the other roof-mounted turret bustle.
Tracked rapier was retired in the late 1980s as the requirement for anti-air support to keep up with an armoured assault against the Warsaw Pact was defunct. However, the chiefs of staff involved in planning operation Desert Storm (Gulf War I) required anti-air units to accompany the Challenger equipped armoured regiments, and a handful of Tracked Rapiers were bought back from civilian collections and removed from display outside army camps and pressed back into service with the latest Rapier missile systems.
Tracked Rapier has since been replaced by Starstreak missile launchers mounted on the Alvis Stormer.
Rapier FSB
Shortly after introducing FSA, "Field Standard B" (FSB) added a number of basic upgrades. Additionally, the search radar was upgraded to be easily shut down in case of an anti-radiation missile attack.
Rapier Laserfire
With the range of upgrades and new components, the original low-cost Rapier system was gone. In order to address international market requirements for a lower-cost system, BAC started development of the "Rapier Laserfire" in 1982. Laserfire replaced the original optical tracker unit with a new laser illuminating system that is considerably smaller, allowing the entire system to be mounted on a single pallet that could itself be mounted on a truck or other flatbed vehicle.
Initial engagement is similar to the original Rapier, but the target is illuminated and automatically tracked by a high power YAG:Nd laser. After the missile is launched the laser alternately illuminates the target and missile to determine their locations, and guidance is sent to the missile as normal. Laserfire thus represents a fairly major upgrade to the original optical system, allowing semi-automatic engagements, and greatly reducing operator skill and training requirements.
On the downside, Laserfire no longer has the optical system of the original, which served an important second duty by allowing the aircraft to be visually identified at long range. Additionally, while the Laserfire tracking system is capable of being operated at night, target acquisition is optical, like the original Rapier.
Rapier Darkfire
In 1985 development started on a new tracker that replaced the original optical system with a new IR thermal imager system to improve its abilities, especially at night. This version was known as "Rapier Darkfire" for this reason. Trials of the new system started in 1987, and were deployed operationally in 1990 as "Field Standard B2" (FSB2), the earlier upgrades retroactively becoming FSB1. This system was also known as "Rapier 90". Cooling for the imager was provided by bottles of compressed gas.
FSB2 also introduced a number of improvements that greatly improved Rapier capabilities. First and foremost was the Tactical Control Console that allowed four Rapier launchers to be controlled from a central location. The launchers themselves were upgraded to carry six missiles instead of four, improving battery capacity. Finally, the search radar was updated to use a new planar array antenna, although its capabilities remained generally the same as the earlier model.
Rapier Missile upgrades
In 1988 tests started on an improved warhead using a proximity fuse, in order to give Rapier capability against smaller targets that would be difficult to hit directly, notably high-speed remotely piloted vehicles. Serial production of Mk. 1E began in 1989.
In 1992 the Army signed a contract to upgrade all Rapier systems to a highly performance enhanced version. A Mark 2 missile variant commenced development in 1986 culminating in a complete re-design which entered service in the mid-1990s. Along with a further upgrade of the proximity fuse, the new missile incorporated (then) state-of-art technologies including:
Von Karman supersonic aerodynamic profile; Composite propellant, two-stage shaped burn and laminated body solid rocket motor; Ceramic substrate surface mount PCB's; Completely new electronic systems and software; Both analogue and digital proprietary ASIC's; Highly ECM resistant front end and command link with redundant encoding; Fully Digital Autopilot incorporating Kalman state filtering; Inertial navigation comprising ring-laser roll and rate gyroscope; Kapton ribbon cabling.
The missile warhead is available in two versions, the Mk. 2A for the normal anti-aircraft role, and the Mk. 2B, which includes a shaped charge warhead and dual fuses, useful against light armor as well.
Rapier 2000
In 1992, shortly after the introduction of Rapier 90, another major upgrade series started at MBDA (previously Matra BAe Dynamics). Emerging as "Rapier 2000", or "Field Standard C" (FSC) in British service, the system reached its ultimate form. Development of the FSC system began at the end of the 1980s and the systems first entered service in 1996. There is also an export version of this version, known as Jernas. Malaysia is the first export customer for Jernas.
With the missiles increasingly relying on radar guidance since the introduction of Blindfire, it made sense to upgrade the original search radar to something much more modern. This was supplied by the Alenia Marconi "Dagger", a 3D pulse doppler radar with an integrated Cossor Mark 10 IFF system. Dagger is mounted on its own trailer, so the radome on top of the launcher unit was no longer needed. In its place, a much more modern optical tracking system was added. The new tracker used a Stirling-cycle cooler instead of compressed gas bottles. The use of much smaller electronics greatly reduced stack height of the launcher, allowing an additional two missiles to be added, for a total of eight.
In operation the Rapier 2000 is similar to earlier Blindfire-equipped systems. Targets are acquired visually or through the Dagger radar, and then the Blindfire and optical tracker are slewed onto the target. The optical system can be used solely to track the missile, or it can be used for all guidance, like the original Rapier. In either case the engagement is entirely automatic, with no operator guidance needed. The optical system can also be used as a search system, seeking out IR sources, allowing radar-quiet operation.
| Rapier | |
|---|---|
| Type | Surface-to-air missile |
| Place of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1971 |
| Used by | United Kingdom, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, Malaysia, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia (formerly) |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1963 |
| Manufacturer | British Aircraft Corporation, later British Aerospace now MBDA (UK) Ltd |
| Produced | 1969 |
| Number built | ~25,000 missiles, 600 launchers and 350 radars |
| Variants | Mk1 ("Hittile"), Mk2B (Missile) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 45 kg |
| Length | 2.235 |
| Diameter | 0.133 m |
| | |
| Warhead | Fragmentation explosive close proximity warhead |
| Detonation mechanism | Proximity triggered chemical fuse |
| | |
| Engine | solid fuel rocket |
| Wingspan | 0.138 |
| Operational range | 400 - 6,800 m |
| Flight ceiling | 3,000 m |
| Speed | Mach 2.5 |
| Guidance system | GGU |
| Steering system | control surface |
| Launch platform | vehicle or trailer |
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