Aspide-1A
Contents
Description
Aspide*-1A is a semi-active radar homing missile developed by Selenia based on AIM-7 Sparrow's design with new homing radar, used by Italian Air Force and exported to multiple foreign militaries including PLAAF.
*Aspide- Asp, a species of viper in Italian
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
The overall dimensions of Aspide-1A is identical to later models AIM-7 Sparrow, the only major difference is the homing radar onboard.
Effective damage
The 8kg of PBXN-4 explosives onboard has a 10.24 kg TNT equivalent, which can cause explosive and shrapnel damage to targeted aircrafts
Comparison with analogues
Aspide-1A is currently the fastest AAM in game at a whopping Mach 5.0, faster than available variants of AIM-7 Sparrow, R-23/24R as well as Super 530F; the maximum overload also topped at 35G, again the highest among all AAMs.
Usage in battles
Aspide-1A is intended to intercept high-altitude or head-on targets, so the best way to utilize it is aim for enemies who are flying high or in head-on range- they might not have the sufficient overload to dodge the missile; this is the case for F-104S.ASA. But in terms of J-8B, due to the inferior radar, it is best to use Aspide-1A against only to targets which are higher than you.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Currently the fastest missile in game
- Currently the SARH missile with the highest maximum overload
- Sufficient explosive contents to one-shot targets
Cons:
- In F-104S.ASA's case, it sacrifices onboard gun to install
- In J-8B's case, the inferior radar limited its full potential
History
Although the very close resemblance to US-made AIM-7 Sparrows (which Selenia [now MDBA] did got the license to build locally in Italy), Aspide missiles utilized the latest electronics and rocket engines developed in Italy, serving as the selected SARH missile for Italian Air Force's Starfighters.
It was then export to multiple foreign countries including Mainland China, where they even intended to buy the production line from Italy; but the 1989 Beijing Crackdown and the subsequence ECC embargo halted the import of Aspide into PLAAF service, forcing them to reverse-engineer from the existing part of the remaining stocks and installed the Aspide's homing radar onto HQ-61 SAM, becoming what's known as a PL-11 in early 2000s.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
