Sea Cat GWS-20 series missile
Sea Cat
Type	surface-to-air
Nationality	United Kingdom
Era	Cold War
Launch platform	Ship
Target	aircraft
History
Builder	Short Brothers
Date of design
Production period
Service duration	1962 -
Operators	UK, Brazil, Chile and Sweden
Variants	Fire Control (see text)
Number built
Specifications
Type	close range anti-aircraft
Diameter	0.22 m
Wing span	0.70 m
Length	1.48 m
Weight	68 kg
Propulsion	2 stage motor
Steering	control surfaces
Guidance	CLOS & radio link (see text)
Speed	Mach 0.8
Range	500 - 5000+ m
Ceiling
Payload
Warhead	40 lb (18 kg) Continuous Rod
Trigger	proximity

Sea Cat was a British short-range surface to air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the worlds first operational shipboard point-defence missile system and was designed so that the Bofors guns could be replaced with minimum modification to the recipient vessel using (originally) existing fire-control systems. Image File history File links Sea_Cat_missile. ... A weapons platform is generally any structure or system on which a weapon can be mounted. ... A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ... Bofors 40mm/L60. ...

History

Sea Cat was designed by Short Brothers of Belfast for use against fast jet aircraft that were proving to be too difficult for the WWII-era Bofors guns to successfully intercept. The missile itself was based on the Shorts Green Light prototype, itself a development of the Australian Malkara anti-tank missile. It replaced the Orange Nell development programme for a lighter weapon than the enormous Sea Slug missile. Short Brothers, almost universally referred to simply as Shorts, is a British aerospace company now based in Belfast. ... Malkara Type anti-tank guided missile Nationality UK/Australia Era Cold War Launch platform Vehicle Target AFV History Builder Date of design 1954 Production period Service duration 1958 to 1960s Operators UK Variants none Number built 1000 Specifications Type surface to surface Diameter 0. ... Sea Slug was a Royal Navy surface-to-air missile system built by Hawker Siddeley which came into service in the 1950s and was still in use at the time of the Falklands War. ...

Design Features

Sea Cat is a small, subsonic missile powered by a 2-stage solid fuel rocket motor. It is steered in flight by four swept, cruciformly arranged wings and is stabilised by four small tail fins. It is guided by Command Line-Of-Sight (CLOS) via a radio-link; i.e. flight commands are transmitted to it from a remote operator with both the missile and target in sight.

Variants

All Sea Cat variants used a common 4-rail, manually-loaded, trainable launcher that incorporated the antennae for the radio command link. All that was required to fit the system to a ship was the installation of a launcher, the provision of a missile handling room and a suitable guidance system. Sea Cat was widely used in NATO and Commonwealth navies that purchased British equipment and has been used with a wide array of guidance systems. The four systems used by the Royal Navy are described below. NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ...

GWS-20

This was the initial system, and was intended to replace the twin 40 mm Bofors Mark V gun and its associated fire-control systems. The original director was based on the STD (Simple Tachymetric Director) and was entirely visual in operation. The target was acquired visually with the missile being guided, via a radio link, by the operator inputing commands on a joystick. Flares on the missile's tail fins aided identifying the missile. The more advanced CRBF (Close Range Blind Fire) director equipped with spin-scanning radar Type 262 for automatic target tracking could also be used.

GWS-20 was trialled on board the Daring class destroyer, and was subsequently removed. It was carried in active service by, (amongst others) Fearless class landing ships and Type 81 Tribal, updated Type 12 Whitby, Type 12I Rothesay and (originally) County class escorts. It was originally intended that all C class destroyers should receive it and the class were prepared accordingly. In the event only HMS Cavalier and HMS Caprice received it, in 1966 refits. The Daring class were an eight-ship class of destroyers of the Royal Navy (RN) that were laid down during and after World War II, though like many other classes, their construction was halted for quite a while, indeed, the Darings were not commissioned until the 1950s. ... The two Fearless class ships, HMS Fearless and HMS Intrepid, were the first purpose built amphibious warfare vessels in the Royal Navy. ... The Type 81, or Tribal class, was a class of seven general-purpose frigates for the Royal Navy designed during the 1950s that served throughout the 1960s and 1970s with limited service during the 1980s. ... The Type-12 Whitby class were a six-ship class of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates of the Royal Navy. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... HMS Devonshire The County class destroyers were large vessels built by the Royal Navy around the Sea Slug anti-aircraft missile system. ... The C class was a class of 32 destroyers of the Royal Navy launched from 1943 to 1945. ...

GWS-20 saw active service in the Falklands war onboard the Fearless class and the Rothesay frigates HMS Plymouth and HMS Yarmouth, who retained the GWS-20 director when upgraded to GWS-22. The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), was an effective state of war in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands (also known in Spanish as the Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. ... HMS Plymouth was a Rothesay class frigate in the Royal Navy from 1959 to 1988. ...

GWS-21

GWS-21 was the Sea Cat system associated with a modified MRS-3 (Medium Range System) analogue fire control director with Type 904 radar (based on the USN Mk.56 system). This offered manual radar-assisted (Dark Fire) tracking and guidance modes as well as CCTV and 'eyeball' visual modes. It was carried as the design anti-aircraft weapon of the Type 12M Leander class frigate and on the modified Tiger class helicopter cruisers HMS Tiger and HMS Blake. The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... The Leander class, informally known as the Type 12M, comprising twenty-six frigates, was arguably the most successful and popular class of frigates in the Royal Navys modern history. ... The Tiger-class guided-missile cruisers were the first of such a type in the Royal Navy, indeed they were the last cruisers built for the RN. They were originally designed to be Minotaur-class light cruisers. ... HMS Tiger was a guided missile cruiser of the Royal Navy, one of a three ship class known as the Tiger class. ... HMS Blake (C99) was a guided missile cruiser, the only type to have ever served in Royal Navy, and the last cruisers of the RN, known as the Tiger class. ...

GWS-22

GWS-22 was the Sea Cat system associated with the full MRS-3 fire control director with Type 903 radar and was the first ACLOS-capable (Automatic, Command Line-Of-Sight) Sea Cat. It was fitted to most of the Leander, Rothesay and County class escorts as they were refitted and modified in the 1970s, as well as the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. It could operate in automatic radar-guided (Blindfire), manual radar-guided, manual CCTV-guided or, in an emergency, 'eyeball' guided modes. It saw active service in the Falklands onboard all these classes. An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... The second HMS Hermes (R12) was a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy. ...

GWS-24

The final Royal Navy Sea Cat variant, this used the Italian Alenia Orion RTN-10x fire control system with Type 912 radar and was fitted only to the Type 21 frigate. This variant saw active service in the Falklands. The Type 21 frigate or Amazon class frigate was a Royal Navy general-purpose escort designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and that served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s. ...

Tigercat

A land-based mobile version of Seacat based on a 3-round, trailer-mounted launcher towed by a Land Rover carrying the fire control equipment. Tigercat was used exclusively within HM Forces by No.48 Squadron of the RAF Regiment between 1967 and 1978, being replaced in service by Rapier. Tigercat was also operated by, amongst others, Argentina, who deployed it operationally during the Falklands conflict. No kills were achieved and a number of units were captured by British forces. Land Rover was the name of one of the first British civilian all-terrain utility vehicles, first produced by Rover in 1947. ... The Royal Air Force Regiment is a specialist corps within the Royal Air Force, responsible for capturing and defending airfields and associated installations. ... Rapier Type surface to air Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform vehicle Target aircraft History Builder British Aerospace Date of design Production period Service duration Operators UK Variants ? Number built ? Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...

Service

In its day, Sea Cat was an innovative and world-beating weapon. However, it rapidly fell behind with increasing aircraft speed and the introduction of supersonic, sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. In these cases, as it was subsonic, it was totally unsuited to all but head-on interceptions with adequate warning and response time. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Sea Cat was still widely fielded by the Royal Navy during the Falklands war, despite being obsolete, and was the sole anti-aircraft defence of many ships. However, unlike the modern and complicated Sea Dart and Sea Wolf systems, Sea Cat rarely misfired or refused to respond in even the harshest conditions. It was capable of sustained action which compensated for its lack of speed, range and accuracy and more importantly, it was available in large numbers. Ships firing Sea Cat made claims on only one confirmed "kill" of Argentine aircraft (a Dagger at 21 May) from over 80 launches. That aircraft over the taskforce were engaged with every available weapon makes it difficult to assign many kills to individual ships or weapons. Sea Dart Type surface-to-air, surface-to-surface Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform ship Target aircraft or ship History Builder British Aerospace Date of design Production period Service duration 1973 Operators UK (Royal Navy), Argentina Variants ? Number built ? Specifications Type Diameter 0. ... Sea Wolf Type surface-to-air Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform ship Target missile, aircraft History Builder BAe, MDBA Date of design Production period Service duration 1979 - Operators UK, Brazil and Chile Variants Electronics; GWS-25, GWS-26, GWS-27 Vertical Launch Number built Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...

After the Falklands conflict, a radical and urgent re-appraisal of anti-aircraft weaponry was undertaken by the Royal Navy. This saw Sea Cat rapidly removed from service and replaced by modern weapons systems such as Vulcan-Phalanx and Goalkeeper CIWS, modern 20 mm and 30 mm anti-aircraft guns, and new escorts carrying the Sea Wolf, including the vertical launch version, missile. Block 1B CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (Close-in weapon system, pronounced see-whizz) is an anti-missile system that was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Corporation, Pomona Division. ... Goalkeeper CIWS Goalkeeper is a Dutch close-in weapon system, the purpose of which is to defend a ship against incoming missiles and ballistic shells. ...

The missiles where fitted to the four Swedish Östergötland class Destroyers replacing 3 Bofors L/70 guns (a more modern and heavier variant then the Royal Navy's L/60) with a single launcher on each ship. The Östergötland class destroyers of late 1950's origin where retired in the early 80's.

See also