MBDA AS-30L

The AS-30L is a French short-to-medium range air-to-ground missile with semi-active laser homing, the laser-guided version of the AS-30 that Nord Aviation built and that later passed to Aerospatiale and now to MBDA, which lists it among its products with production ended. It replaced the radio-command guidance of the AS-30, which pilots found very hard to use, and the two missiles are otherwise much alike. It is used against targets that need high precision, such as bridges, bunkers and hardened structures, from beyond the reach of ground defences. It carries a 240 kilogram warhead, has a range of about 3 to 11 kilometres and claims an accuracy of about one metre with an airborne or ground laser designator. About 60 were fired in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Deliberate Force, and French Super Etendard aircraft used it over Libya.