page_title: Roberto Curilovic
section_title: Attack on the Atlantic Conveyor
hierarchical_section_title: Roberto Curilovic / Career / Attack on the Atlantic Conveyor
caption_attribution_description: Argentine Navy Super Etendard (notice Atlantic Conveyor killmark)
context_page_description: Captain Roberto Curilovic is a former Argentinian Navy pilot. His attack on 25 May 1982 in the Falklands War sank the transport ship Atlantic Conveyor with an Exocet AM.39 anti-ship missile.
context_section_description: The Argentines had problems with spare parts for their airborne radar aircraft, which were effectively grounded on 15 May 1982. In their place, the AN/TPS-43 three-dimensional radar and an AN/TPS-44 radar were used from the Falkland Islands. On 25 May, the Atlantic Conveyor was spotted by the radar 110 miles north-east of the Falklands. At 7:30 am, this information was passed to the naval air base at Rio Grande (now Hermes Quijada International Airport) on the Tierra del Fuego.
  His plane, the Super Étendard 0753/3-A-203, was readied for a 9:00 am mission, but a KC-130H tanker was not available in time. Along with Super Étendard 0754/3-A-204, he took off (using a call sign "Tito ") at 14:28 and rendezvoused with a KC-130H 160 miles (260 km) east of Puerto Deseado. After leaving the KC-130H, the two pilots headed 300 miles (480 km) to the south-east. At 150 miles from the target, both planes dropped to 10 metres above the sea surface. At a distance of 55 miles (89 km), the pilots detected the target, as expected, on their onboard radar; three targets appeared. They launched Exocets at 16:32 from 31 miles (50 km) away, which hit the ship at 16:35. The ship caught fire and sank three days later while under tow. Both planes travelled 1,620 miles (2,610 km) in the operation in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Without refuelling, the aircraft had a range of 380 miles (610 km), and at low level used 70 litres of fuel per minute. Argentina had two tanker aircraft available. Both planes returned to Puerto Deseado. Only HMS Ambuscade had picked up the planes on its radar. After the operation, the Argentines had one operational Exocet left.
  Curilovic was awarded the Medal of Valour in Combat (La Nación Argentina al Valor en Combate) in 1984. He received the Naval Merit Order (Al Mérito Naval) in 1987 from the Brazilian Navy (Marinha do Brasil).
  On 16 August 2011, he gave a talk at the Centro de Graduados del Liceo Naval Militar (Naval Military Lyceum Graduate Centre) entitled SuperEtendard Squadron, a nightmare for the British fleet (Spanish: Escuadrilla de SuperEtendard, una pesadilla para la flota británica).
caption: 0754/3-A-204 Super Etendard, which participated in the lethal attack on 25 May 1982 on the Atlantic Conveyor
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