Exocet Missile

The Exocet is a French-designed anti-ship cruise missile built by the European missile company MBDA, with the ship-launched MM38 variant entering French Navy service in 1975 and the air-launched AM39 variant following in 1979. The missile is compact and sea-skimming, flying just one to two meters above the water using inertial guidance and active radar homing to strike small and medium warships such as frigates and corvettes, though multiple hits can damage larger vessels including aircraft carriers. During the 1982 Falklands War, Argentine aircraft firing air-launched Exocets sank the British destroyer HMS Sheffield and the merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor and damaged HMS Glamorgan. That combat record established the Exocet's reputation as one of the most formidable anti-ship weapons of its era.