Nord SS.12

The Nord SS.12 and its air-launched twin the AS.12 were two variants of one French wire-guided missile, the SS for surface-to-surface and the AS for air-to-surface, designed in the mid 1950s by Nord Aviation as a scaled-up version of the SS.11 with a much greater range and warhead weight. It was meant mainly for use against ships from naval helicopters, combat aircraft or ground launchers, and secondarily against heavy field fortifications. Two solid fuel rocket motors, a booster and a long-burning sustainer, drove it, and four thrust vectoring vanes steered it along two guidance wires. The AS.12 entered service with the French Navy in 1960, and many navies later bought the missile for small patrol boats. It was fired on both sides in the 1982 Falklands War, notably at the Argentine submarine Santa Fe, and production of the SS.11 and SS.12 series ended in the 1980s.