Did South Africa ever operate the AM.39?

To my knowledge the only Anti-Ship Missile used by the SAAF during the early embargo years (1978 onwards) was the AS-30. It was primarily used by the Buccaneers in the Anti-ship role, but also by the Mirage 111 and F1 in other roles. The earlier AS-20 was also used.

This is not to say that there weren’t perhaps a few AM-39’s…who knows. There is still a lot of secrecy surrounding apartheid era defence.

The information above hopefully answers your question.

However, if you’re talking about the Falklands War and the early 1980’s, then officially at least, South Africa did not operate the Exocet until the Valour class entered service in 2006. They only operated the Skerpioen (Scorpion) missile from the then Minister class FAC. The Skerpioen is basically a Gabriel Mk2 AShM with a range of just under 40km.

http://navy.org.za/pages/skerpioen

However……

South Africa did order 4 corvettes from Spain with Portugal as an intermediatary in the early 1970’s. They were to be equipped with the Exocet. Portugals coup put paid to that plan, and they were incorporated into the Portuguese Navy as the Baptista de Andrade class. (1974)

The South Africans then ordered two A-69 Aviso’s from France, which were also embargo’ed just before delivery (1978). They currently serve with Argentina. Most interestingly though, was that the weapon and sensor fit between the two classes ordered were precisely the same, meaning that the equipment was moved from the de Andrade class to the A-69 class after cancellation. I do know that South African owned equipment was removed from the A-69 class after the embargo.

Whether South Africa owned Exocets at that stage is unknown and nobody is saying anything. I have never seen any displayed from that time period.

Sorry, I should have been clearer, I only meant the air-launched variant. But it is puzzling, I can’t find any sources that the SAAF ever operated it, yet in the above mentioned book and several others it claims South Africa did at least order the missile. Although, the only sources I can find, which tend to deal with South Africa allegedly trying to sell some to Argentina during the Falklands, talk in generalities.

Hi guys,

I’m currently reading The Official History of the Falklands Campaign by Lawrence Freedman and on Page 386 it talks about Aerospatiale doing a check of the global distribution of Exocets, it says that South Africa had ordered 30 of the missiles. I’m assuming in the context, they are AM.39s, but try as I might I can’t find any information that SA actually operated the Exocet? Can anybody shed some light on this?

The information above hopefully answers your question.

However, if you’re talking about the Falklands War and the early 1980’s, then officially at least, South Africa did not operate the Exocet until the Valour class entered service in 2006. They only operated the Skerpioen (Scorpion) missile from the then Minister class FAC. The Skerpioen is basically a Gabriel Mk2 AShM with a range of just under 40km.

http://navy.org.za/pages/skerpioen

However……

South Africa did order 4 corvettes from Spain with Portugal as an intermediatary in the early 1970’s. They were to be equipped with the Exocet. Portugals coup put paid to that plan, and they were incorporated into the Portuguese Navy as the Baptista de Andrade class. (1974)

The South Africans then ordered two A-69 Aviso’s from France, which were also embargo’ed just before delivery (1978). They currently serve with Argentina. Most interestingly though, was that the weapon and sensor fit between the two classes ordered were precisely the same, meaning that the equipment was moved from the de Andrade class to the A-69 class after cancellation. I do know that South African owned equipment was removed from the A-69 class after the embargo.

Whether South Africa owned Exocets at that stage is unknown and nobody is saying anything. I have never seen any displayed from that time period.

Hi, yes the SA Navy use the MM40 Block One, and have had a number of firings from the new frigates, as part of the operational acceptance testing of the vessels. These firing were at relatively small targets, one of them being an old WARRIOR class fast attack craft (FAC/M), and the other an old Miinehunter/sweeper (ex-German Navy).

The Navy have ‘purchased’ a number of the MM40/1’s apparently under some lease scheme, where they are actually only paid once fired. It is also understood that a limited batch of the Block 1’s were ‘purchased’, with a the later version (MM40/2) with next order (a promise which also included the now canceled new generation Exocet).

I hope this helps. I will publish more information on this when it becomes available.

Look at the following links for some firing information.

http://www.navy.mil.za/archive/0711/071108_Red_Lion/article.htm

http://www.navy.mil.za/archive/0707/070705_Whippet/article.htm

Regards

try as I might I can’t find any information that SA actually operated the Exocet? Can anybody shed some light on this?

The SAAF is credited with having received the AM.39, whil the Navy adopted the MM40/2 on the Meko A200. I’ve got no info on the quantities or dates.