Super 530F French Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile

The Matra Super 530 is a French short to medium-range air-to-air missile. The Super 530 series is an improved type of the R.530 missile. Super 530F is carried on the Dassault Mirage F1. It was introduced in 1979. Super 530D is carried on the Dassault-Breguet Mirage 2000. It was introduced in 1988. The Super 530 is being replaced by the MICA (missile). The Super 530F and Super 530D share the same general aerodynamic features and internal layout with cruciform low aspect ratio wings, cruciform aft controls, and 30 kg high explosive fragmentation warhead. However the 530D has a lengthened stainless steel body. This allows it to accommodate a more powerful dual-thrust solid propellant motor and a new seeker assembly. The new seeker includes doppler filtering for improved low altitude performance and digital micro-processing to enable the seeker to be reprogrammed against new threats. The 530D has a claimed maximum interception altitude of 24,400 m (80,100 ft), with a snap-up capability of 12,200 m (40,000 ft), and a snap-down capability to targets at 60 m (200 ft). The missile has a range of 40 km and a maximum speed of less than Mach 5. During the Iran-Iraq War, during the 1980s, the Iraqi Air Force used them on their Mirage F1 against Iran. On 14 September 1983, in an incident that was revealed thirty years later, two Turkish F-100F violated Iraqi air space and one was shot down by an Iraqi Mirage F1EQ firing a Super 530F missile. The Turkish pilots survived and returned to Turkey. On 15 July 2019, during a police operation in Northern Italy, a functioning Super 530F missile was seized together with firearms. The missile lacked the warhead. The weapons were smuggled by a group of people connected to far-right movements. The missile canister indicated it was originally sold to the Qatari armed forces. The original contract date with Qatar was October 1980.