 swingfire was a british wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993. ==development== swingfire was developed by fairey engineering ltd and the british aircraft corporation. it replaced the vickers vigilant missile in british service. its design incorporated elements from its predecessor the vigilant and the experimental orange william missile. the name comes from the ability of the missile to make a rapid turn of up to ninety degrees after firing to bring it onto the line of the sighting mechanism. this means that the launcher vehicle could be concealed and the operator, using a portable sight, placed at a distance in a more advantageous firing position. besides its use on the fv438 swingfire and the striker armoured vehicles, swingfire was developed to be launched from other platforms: * beeswing - on a land rover * hawkswing - on a lynx helicopter * golfswing - on a small trolley or argocat vehicle. ==combat history== swingfire has seen combat use in the gulf war britain's small wars - gulf units and the iraq war. ==replacement in british army== after a lengthy debate, the swingfire was replaced with the javelin in mid-2005 to meet new and changing situational requirements. the british army invested heavily in the javelin, and it is now the main heavy anti-tank missile system in use by the british army.mod press releasejavelin - army technology ==specification== * diameter: 170&nbsp;mm * wingspan: 0.39 m * length: 1.07 m * weight: 27&nbsp;kg * warhead: 7&nbsp;kg heat * range: 150 m to 4000 m * velocity: 185&nbsp;m/s * guidance: wire-guided, originally mclos, later upgraded to saclos, in which form the system is known as swig (swingfire with improved guidance). * steering: thrust vectored control (tvc) * penetration: 800&nbsp;mm rhastephen bull, encyclopedia of military technology and in
Anti-tank_missiles_of_the_Cold_War Anti-tank_missiles_of_the_United_Kingdom British_Aircraft_Corporation Vehicle_weapons