Sea Eagle (missile)

The BAe Sea Eagle is a British medium-weight, sea-skimming anti-ship missile designed and built by BAe Dynamics, a business that is now part of MBDA. It was intended to sink or disable ships up to the size of aircraft carriers even in the face of jamming and other countermeasures such as decoys. It followed the television-guided Martel, which by the mid 1970s was judged no longer competitive; specifications for a replacement were drawn up between 1973 and 1975, design of the P3T began in 1976, full-scale development started in 1979, production began in 1982 and the weapon entered service in 1985. The Royal Air Force Buccaneer was the first aircraft to carry it in active service, followed by the Royal Navy Sea Harrier, the RAF Tornado GR1B and aircraft of the Royal Saudi Air Force. The Indian Navy also fitted it to Sea Harriers, Jaguars, Sea King helicopters and Il-38 patrol aircraft. Powered by a licence-built Microturbo TRI 60 turbojet, it cruises at about Mach 0.85 over a range of more than 110 kilometres. It was withdrawn from RAF and Royal Navy service by 2000.