RBS70/RBS90                                     1991 Oct 21
Urban Fredriksson urf@icl.se

During the late 1960's the future of Swedish air defence systems
was studied. The conclusion was that a large force of Viggens
combined with short range missiles would be the best solution for
the future, and that missile was to be the RBS70 which entered
service in 1977. Bloodhound wasn't replaced by anything, and
Redeye was used a as an interim measure, but the Hawk missiles
have been replaced with Improved Hawk. The 40 mm cannon has also
remained, with new sights, so it wasn't a total solution.

The missile is man portable and can be used independently. To
best protect an area, the firing units should be placed 4 km from
each other. Normally, a Giraffe search (40 km) and track (20 km)
radar hands off targets to the laser beam riding missile. As the
target is tracked visually, and the missile guided by a laser
beam from the rear, it is as jamproof as it gets, and has good
ability to track jinking targets.

Simulator training of the operator takes about 15 - 20 hr, spread
over 10 - 13 days.

The missile has a laser proximity fuze and prefragmentated
warhead which produces 2000 steel balls. From advertisements it
is obvious that it is the pilot who is the target.

Recently RBS90 entered service. It is an improved missile with
more powerful motor. The launcher is twin-round, with an
electro-optical night sight, and can be remotely controlled from
a control van. The RBS70 and 90 are totally launcher compatible.


Data for RBS70
                 Y         Kill probability diagram. An overall
 ,,,,,555555555555-5 km    missile reliability of 90% is
 ,,,55555555555555         assumed, and these figures are a
  5555555555555588-4       combination of that, hit probability
  5555555555555888         and warhead effectiveness.
   555555555555888-3
    55555555555888         The target is flying a course
     5555555555888-2       parallell to Y->X, with the firing
       55555555888         unit at X.
         5555  888-1
          ,,    88         Velocity is 250 m/s; at 200 m/s it is
 -3----2--,,1----X         similar, but with greater coverage to
  km   ,,,,                the rear; at 300 m/s there is no rear
      ,,,,        -1       coverage at all, and front coverage
     ,,,,,                 is a 80 deg wedge with 5 km radius at
    ,,,,,,33334444-2       between 50-80% kill probability.
   ,,,,,3333334444
   ,,,333333334444-3       For a helicopter at 50 m/s close to
  ,,,3333333334444         the ground, effective radius is 5 km,
  ,,,3333333333444-4       with a kill probability of 40-70%,
 ,,,,,333333333333         because the proximity fuze is disabled
 ,,,,,,,,333333333-5       requiring a direct hit.

Legend:    8 = >80%  5