The Matra Super 530 is a French medium-range air-to-air missile developed as an upgraded version of the earlier R.530 missile. It is designed for engaging enemy aircraft with improved guidance, range, and speed.
Variants and Specifications
- Super 530F
- Weight: 245 kg
- Length: 3.54 m
- Wingspan: 0.88 m
- Range: 25 km
- Maximum Speed: Mach 4.5
- Guidance: Semi-active radar homing with RF detonation
- Warhead: 30 kg high-explosive fragmentation
- Super 530D
- Weight: 270 kg
- Length: 3.80 m
- Wingspan: 0.62 m
- Range: 40 km
- Maximum Speed: Just under Mach 5
- Guidance: Advanced semi-active radar homing with Doppler filtering and digital microprocessor for better low-altitude performance and adaptability
- Warhead: 30 kg high-explosive fragmentation
The Super 530D’s extended stainless steel airframe accommodates a more powerful dual-thrust rocket motor and a new seeker head, enabling engagement of targets from as low as 60 meters to as high as 24,400 meters altitude.
Operational Use
- The Super 530F was deployed on Dassault Mirage F1 aircraft starting in 1979.
- The Super 530D was introduced with the Dassault Mirage 2000 in 1988.
- The missile is currently being phased out in favor of the more modern MICA missile.
Historical Notes
- The Iraqi Air Force used the Super 530F during the Iran-Iraq War.
- In 1983, an Iraqi Mirage F1 shot down a Turkish F-100F using a Super 530F missile after airspace violations.
- Recently, live and inert Super 530 missiles have been seized in criminal investigations in Europe and mistakenly shipped to the U.S.
Operators
- Current: Egypt, Greece, India
- Former: France, Brazil, Iraq, Spain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya
Comparable Missiles
- AIM-7 Sparrow (USA)
- R-23 and R-27 (Soviet Union)
