The Aster missile series, primarily comprising the Aster 15 and Aster 30 are
a family of vertically launched surface-to-air missiles. The name
"Aster" originates from the mythical Greek archer named Asterion, Asterion
likewise receiving his name from the ancient Greek word aster, meaning
"star". Aster is manufactured by Eurosam, a European consortium
consisting of MBDA France, MBDA Italy and the Thales Group. The missile is
designed to intercept and destroy a wide range of air threats, such as supersonic
anti-ship cruise missiles at very low altitude and fast flying, high
performance aircraft or missiles. Aster is primarily operated by France,
Italy, and the United Kingdom and is an integrated component of the PAAMS
air-defence missile system, known in the Royal Navy as Sea Viper. As the
principal weapon of the PAAMS system, Aster equips the Type 45 destroyers and
the Horizon class frigates. Aster also equips the French and Italian FREMM
multipurpose frigates, though they will not be operating as part of a PAAMS
air-defence suite. Although the Aster 30 is anti-ballistic
missile capable, an Aster Block 2 BMD variant of the Aster 30 missile, with
Hit-To-Kill capability and exo-atmospheric capability, is currently
being developed. History
During the 1980s, the predominant missiles in Franco-Italian service were
short-range systems such as the French Crotale, Italian Aspide or American Sea
Sparrow, with ranges up to a dozen kilometres. Some vessels were also
equipped with the American medium/long range Standard. France and Italy decided
to start development of a domestic medium/long range surface-to-air missile
to enter service in the first decade of this millennium, that would give them
comparable range but superior interception capability to the American
Standard or British Sea Dart already in service.
Thought was given in particular to the new missile's ability to intercept
next-generation supersonic anti-ship missiles, such as the Brahmos missile
developed jointly by India and Russia. This allowed the actual systems to have
the characteristic of being specialised either in short-to-medium range "point
defence", or in medium-to-long range "zone defence".
In May 1989, a Memorandum of understanding was signed between France
and Italy for the development of a family of future surface-to
air-missiles. Eurosam was formed shortly afterwards. By July 1995 development had
taken shape in the form of the Aster missile and test firing of the first
Aster 30 took place. The missile successfully intercepted a target at an
altitude of 15,000 m and at speeds of 1000 km/h. A Phase 2 contract was
awarded in 1997 at US$ 1 billion for pre-production and development of the
French-Italian land and naval systems. During development trials between 1993
and 1994 all flight sequences, altitudes and ranges, were validated. This was
also the period during which the launch sequence of Aster 30 was validated. In
May 1996, trials of the Aster 15 active electromagnetical final guidance system
against live targets began. All six attempts were successful. Again during
1997 Aster was extensively tested, this time being pitted against targets such
as the C22 target and first generation Exocet anti-ship missiles. In numerous
engagements Aster scored direct impacts on its targets. During one such
engagement on 13 November 1997 in a strong countermeasures environment, the
Aster was not armed with its military warhead so that the distance between the
Aster and the target could be recorded. The target was recovered bearing two
strong cuts due to the fins of the Aster missile.
In May 2001 Aster had again successfully completed the "manufacturer's validation
firing test" and was deployed for the first time on the French nuclear-powered
aircraft carriers Charles de Gaulle. Again on the 29 June 2001 achieved a
successful interception of a Arabel missile at low altitude in less than
five seconds. During the same year a target simulating an aircraft flying at
speeds of Mach 1 and at an altitude of 100 meters was intercepted by an Aster
15. The first ever operational firing of the Aster missile took place during
October 2002 on board Charles de Gaulle. Finally in November 2003 Eurosam was
awarded the 3 billion euro Phase 3 production contract which saw full
production commence and exports to France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the
United Kingdom. The resulting Aster surface-to-air missile meets
inter-service and international requirements, addressing the needs of
the land, air and naval forces of France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The decision to base the missile around a common terminal intercept 'dart' to
which different sized boosters can be attached has made it modular and
extensible. From 2002 to 2005, the Italian
experimental frigate Carabiniere provided a test bed for live firing
trials of the Aster 15 from Sylver A43 launchers with EMPAR and SAAM-it
systems, and the trials of Aster 30 from Sylver A50 launchers with EMPAR and
PAAMS(E) systems. As of 2012, France has spent €4.1bn at 2010 prices on 10 SAMP/T
launchers, 375 Aster 30 missiles and 200 Aster 15 missiles. Another 80 Aster 30
and 40 Aster 15 have been bought for France's Horizon-class frigates under a
separate programme. Characteristics
Aster is best described as an anti-missile missile that is capable of
intercepting all types of high performance air threats such as;
aircraft, UAVs, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles
at ranges of up to 120 km. There are currently two versions of the Aster
missile family, the short range version, Aster 15 and the long range version,
Aster 30. The missile bodies are identical; Their difference in range and
intercept speed is because Aster 30 uses a much larger booster. Total weights of
the Aster 15 and Aster 30 are 310 kg and 450 kg respectively. Aster 15 has a
length of 4.2 meters, rising to just under 5 meters for Aster 30. Aster 15
has a diameter of 180mm. Given the larger dimensions of the Aster
30, a naval based system requires the longer tubes of the Sylver A50 or A70
vertical launching system. Additionally the American Mark 41 Vertical Launching
System can accommodate Aster 30. Aster 30 is capable of reaching speeds
of Mach 4.5 while reaching altitudes of 20 km and is capable of performing
aerial manoeuvres greater than 60 Gs giving it a very high degree of
manoeuvrability. This is thanks to the combination of aerodynamic control and
the direct thrust vector control called "PIF-PAF". Thrust vectors are
intentionally located at the missile's centre of gravity maximising
responsiveness. This system also prevents a rupture of the missile under
high-g maneuvers during trajectory corrections, and allows such maneuvers
to be performed without losing aerodynamic performances, improving the
precision of the impact on target. A standard launch of the Aster can include
90-degree trajectory changes. Eurosam describes Aster as a
"hit-to-kill Missile Interceptor". The Aster missile is autonomously guided
enabling it to cope with saturated attacks and is equipped with an active
RF seeker. The shipboard radar fulfills roles of sentry, meteo, target
discrimination, acquisition and chase. When coupled with the advanced PAAMS
air-defence system utilizing the SAMPSON and S1850M radars, Aster is capable of
simultaneously targeting and engaging multiple targets at once. MBDA states
Aster is capable of "Multiple engagement capability with high rate of fire".
= Variants= Aster 15 - Ship point and local area
defence Aster 30 Block 0 - Ship local and wide
area defence Aster 30 Block 1 - Ground-based wide
area defence capable against 600 km-range ballistic missiles such as
Scud-B Aster 30 Block 1NT - wide area defence
capable against 1000 km-range ballistic missiles
Aster 30 Block 2 - wide area defence capable against 3000 km-range ballistic
missiles Block 1 is used in the Eurosam SAMP/T
system operated by the French Air Force and the Italian Army. As of May 2013,
the development of Block 1NT is under discussion by France, Italy and the UK.
Block 2 would not be delivered until after 2020.
Operational history In April 2008, the Republic of Singapore
Navy Formidable class frigate RSS Intrepid shot down an aerial drone off
the French port of Toulon during a naval exercise. Then again in 2010, a frigate
of the same class, RSS Supreme fired an Aster 15 and shot down an aerial drone
off the coast of Hawaii as part of exercise RIMPAC 2010.
In September 2010, off the Outer Hebrides at the Benbecula ranges, HMS
Dauntless became the first Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer to shoot an Aster
missile and hit its target. The target, a 13-foot Mirach drone, can fly more
than 600 mph at altitudes from 10 feet to 40,000 feet.
In May 2011, HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers,
fired its Aster missiles for the first time. The shoot took place off the Outer
Hebrides at the Benbecula ranges in Scotland. Daring intercepted and
destroyed its target, a Mirach drone. Daring was not the first Type 45 to fire
its primary weapon. This was due to initial manufacturing defects on a batch
of production Aster missiles exported to the UK. The defect was found after
consecutive failures during testing, thus stalling the Royal Navy's attempts
to fire the Aster missiles during late 2009.
In December 2011, an Aster 30 missile downed an Israeli Black Sparrow
ballistic missile target, the first time an Aster missile had attempted such an
engagement. In April 2012, the French Navy downed an
American GQM-163 Coyote target simulating a sea-skimming supersonic
anti-ship cruise missile traveling at Mach 2.5 with an altitude of less than 5
metres. The Aster 30 missile was fired by the Horizon-class frigate Forbin;
also present during the shoot was Forbin's sister ship Chevalier Paul. It
was the first time a European missile defence system destroyed a supersonic
sea-skimming "missile". The trial was described as a "complex operational
scenario". In May 2012, HMS Diamond was the third
Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer to hit its target, a Mirach drone, with an Aster.
The firing took place off the Outer Hebrides at the Benbecula ranges in
Scotland. In July 2012, HMS Dragon was the fourth
Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer to hit its target, a Mirach drone, with an Aster.
The firing took place off the Outer Hebrides at the Benbecula ranges in
Scotland. In May 2014, HMS Defender was the fifth
Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer to hit its target, a Mirach drone, with an Aster.
Deployment = Naval systems=
Type 45 destroyer Horizon-class destroyer
FREMM multipurpose frigate Formidable-class frigate
Al Riyadh-class frigate Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier
Cavour aircraft carrier Kalaat Béni Abbès Class
= Land systems= Aster 30 has been successfully
incorporated into a land based SAM system - fulfilling the "Ground-based
area defence" mission requirement. It comes in the form of the Eurosam SAMP/T
in the French Air Force and has been operational since 2010. SAMP/T is
primarily mounted on a Renault 8x4 Kerax transporter erector launcher vehicle, it
is fitted with eight missiles - all of which can be salvo-fired in under ten
seconds. Eurosam also received an order for six
SAMP/T systems for the Italian Army, the first units of which are already in
service. It is mounted on an Astra 8x8 transporter erector launcher trucks,
each truck with eight missiles. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has
ordered an unknown amount of SAMP/T systems to replace their Improved Hawk
missiles. The system is the favorite inside the
Swedish Armed Forces to fill the current gap in the country's air defense. The
government have decided that a new medium-range system should be acquired.
The system uses a network of sophisticated radars and sensors -
including 3D phased array radar - enabling it to be highly effective
against all types of air threats. Italy is considering adding enhanced BMD
capabilities to the SAMP/T. The SAMP/T uses an upgraded version of the ARABEL
long range radar, with improved performance developed under the Aster 30
block 1 upgrade program, in order to extend the system's capability against
higher speed targets and higher altitude targets. The SAMP/T system can intercept
at 600 km range. Operators
= Current operators= United Kingdom
Royal Navy France
French Navy French Air Force
Italy Italian Navy
Italian Army Singapore
Republic of Singapore Navy Republic of Singapore Air Force
Saudi Arabia Royal Saudi Navy
Morocco Royal Moroccan Navy
Algeria Algerian National Navy Kalaat Béni Abbès
Class = Potential operators=
Canada Canadian Armed Forces
Turkey Turkish Armed Forces
Sweden Swedish Armed Forces
See also References
External links Aster 30 SAMP/T – Surface-to-Air Missile
Platform / Terrain on army-technology.com
SAMP/T Aster 30 Mamba Surface-to-air defense missile system on
armyrecognition.com Video - HMS Diamond fires Aster 30
missile, 2012 MBDA Aster 15 & 30 PAAMS
MBDA Aster 15 SAAM Eurosam Aster page