Blowpipe Country: UK Type: Light SAM Introduction: 1975

The Shorts Blowpipe is a man-portable surface-to-air missile (SAM) which was in use with the British Army and Royal Marines from 1975 until 1985.

Guidance of the Blowpipe is initially semi-automatic. Two to three seconds after launch the operator regains full control of the missile. The operator then has to steer the missile all the way to its target manually via a small thumb joystick. Detonation is either by proximity or contact fuse.

Blowpipe was used during the Falklands War in 1982. British analysis if Blowpipe performance concluded that of the 95 missiles fired by the British, only 2 managed to destroy their targets. The poor performance led to it being withdrawn from UK service.

General Information
Developed by	UK
Deployed by	UK, other 12 countries
Development Year	Early 1960s
Deployment Year	1975
Retire Year	Unknown
Number deployed	Unknown
Contractor	Shorts Missile Systems Ltd.

Dimensions and Performance
Length	1.35m (only missile)
Body Diameter	7.6cm
Wing/Fin span	27.5cm
Launch Weight	(Aiming Unit) 6.2 kg, (Missile Unit) 14.5 kg
Range	about700-about3,500m(effective range), 10-2,500m(effective attitude)

Components
Propulsion	Solid
Warhead	2.2kg HE fragmentation fffect
Guidance	IR auto collection, CLOS