British Forces Deployment - Iraq

[R Mark Davies]

Hi David,

The RN does actually use a great many Sea Wolf systems now - since the Falklands and it is an outstanding piece of kit, fitted to all major RN ships in conjunction with Phalanx and Goalkeeper. the old fit was to have it on an eight-shot turret, but they now mount Sea Wolf in vertical launch tubes, which means a much higher volume of fire if necessary.

The really scary one is the Starstreak High-Velocity Missile, which has, as its primary design specification, the ability to nail helicopter gunships on pop-up attacks - I've seen it operate and I believe it! The damn thing is so fast as to be absolutely invisible in flight - I saw them fire out to sea and there was just an enormous bang and instantly we saw the booster splashing into the sea over three miles out! Seriously fast!

Mark