SS . 11 SS . 11 is the designation of the Nord Aviation MCLOS wire - guided anti - tank missile . In American service the missile was designated the " AGM - 22 " . The missile entered service with the French Army in 1956 . Production of the SS . 11 / SS . 12 series ceased some time in the 1980s ; but in 1978 168 , 450 missiles had been produced . The price of the SS . 11 in the late 1960s was stated at approximately $ US1 , 900 dollars . Development . Development of an improved version of the SS . 10 ( Nord - 5203 ) began in 1953 as the Nord - 5210 . The missile was intended as a heavy version of the SS . 10 for use from vehicles , ships and helicopters , with even an infantry version developed later . The missile entered service with the French army under the designation SS . 11 . It was used as the first helicopter - mounted ( on Alouette II s ) anti - tank missile in the world . From 1962 a " B " model of the missile was produced , which replaced some of the original electronics with solid state components . The transistorisation provided improved handling , which allowed the missile pilots to over - correct less . This was the version used for development of an infantry version , in which the operator carried three warheads and had a " waist belt fire - control " and three other men carried the missile minus its warhead . One of the most unique uses of the SS . 11 was that of probably the smallest anti - shipping missile in the world , with the Swedish Army employing it in the anti - landing craft role for decades , until it was replaced by a specialized version of the AGM - 114 Hellfire . History . The first combat use of the SS . 11 was in 1956 being fitted as an experiment to a , an early version of the French Air Force Dassault MD 315 Flamant , light twin engine transports in the Algerian - French conflict as a method of attacking against fortified caves located in steep mountain gorges . The combat experiment proved extremely successful and became standard on other French Air Force MD 311s stationed in the Algerian war theater . From this early combat experience in Algeria with fixed wing aircraft firing the SS . 11 , the French Army took note and introduced the world ' s first specialized combat helicopter firing antitank missiles , based on the Alouette II and later the Alouette III that fired both the earlier surface to surface SS . 11 and the AS . 11 developed for air to surface firing from aircraft , both of which saw extensive combat in that conflict from 1958 to 1962 . After the cancellation of the SSM - A - 23 " Dart " in 1958 the United States began evaluating the SS . 11 , and accepted it into service in 1961 as the AGM - 22A . The missile was deployed from UH - 1B Huey helicopters using either the XM11 or M22 armament subsystems . In U . S . Army service , the SS . 11 was used mainly to develop tactics employing antitank helicopters and train future helicopter crews . In September 1965 , 12 U . S . Army UH - 1B helicopters belonging to a special unit , fitted with the XM - 58 stabilized sight arrived in Vietnam . One month later they fired AGM - 22s in combat . During the Arab - Israeli War of 1967 , the Israeli Army was equipped with a large number of SS . 11s supplied by France . But unlike the SS . 10 that saw combat in the 1956 War , it is unknown whether the SS . 11 saw combat with the Israeli Army . In 1966 the French Navy did an evaluation of the SS . 11 ( M ) and SS . 12 ( M ) from the fast patrol boat La Combattante . In 1966 , the Libyan Navy ordered three fast patrol boats from Vosper ( the " Sebha " , " Sirte " and " Susa " ) . Delivered in 1968 , these were the first naval vessels to be armed with the SS . 11 ( M ) and AS . 12 ( M ) being armed with four on each side of the vessel ' s bridge . The Libyan fast patrol boats proved to be a very low cost way to give long range heavy firepower to small naval vessels . Other navies soon followed Libya and bought the SS . 12 ( M ) and SS . 11 ( M ) for their light naval vessels ; among them Brunei , Ethiopia , France , Greece , Ivory Coast , Malaysia , Senegal , and Tunisia . NORD also developed a ten missile trainable launcher for either the SS . 11 ( M ) or SS . 12 ( M ) which was sold in numbers due to its extremely cost effective firepower for both light and medium size naval craft . During the Falklands War both the British Army and the British Royal Marines used Westland Scout s armed with the SS . 11 . On the 14 June 1982 two Army and two Marine Scouts attacked Argentine positions on the south - west outskirts of Port Stanley . Of the ten missiles fired nine hit their targets and one was lost due to a command wire breaking . Description . A variety of warheads are available for the missile : On launch the SNPE rocket booster , with two outlets on the side of the missile body , burns for 1 . 2 seconds , after which the Sophie sustainer engine , with single outlet in the rear of the missile body burns for 20 seconds . Unlike the earlier SS . 10 which steered similar to an airplane with small flight controls , called " spoilers " , located on the missiles wings , the SS . 11 is steered in flight by unique system developed by NORD for France ' s first air - to - air missile , the AA . 20 , called TVC ( thrust vectoring control ) where four small vanes are located around the sustainer ' s exhaust which under command momentarily push into the sustainer ' s thrust causing the missile to move in the direction commanded . Since the missile spins slowly in flight by having the four swept wings slightly offset , a gyroscope is needed to determine the missile ' s relative orientation to the ground , that is , up , down and right , left . Unlike the earlier spoiler flight control , TVC is far more precise method of controlling a missile in flight . TVC has been copied by other missile designs including the Russians with their AT - 3 Sagger and the Euromissile HOT and MILAN developed by joint venture of the French and Germans . Due to the manual nature of the guidance , called MCLOS , where the operator had to first gain control of the missile and bring it into his line of sight with the target , engagements of targets at short range were poor , but beyond 500 meters accuracy was good to excellent for a well trained operator . In 1967 ( by that time NORD had been merged with Aerospatiale ) a version of the SS . 11 , called Harpon , was developed with a much improved guidance system called SACLOS where the missile is automatically tracked in flight and brought to the gunners line of sight . This guidance system drastically increases the SS . 11 accuracy , especially at engagement ranges of less than 500 meters .