• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

SSM-A-23 Dart

Curiously, the Americans suffered a complete setback in creating their own ATGM. From 1953 to 1956, the United States developed the SSM-A-23 "Dart" ATGM. The SSM-A-23 Dart was a wire-guided anti-tank missile. In 1951 the Army issued a requirement for an anti-tank missile and the Dart was one of the proposals submitted. A contract was awarded in 1953 to develop the Dart into an effective weapons system and within a year a prototype Dart was first launched. However, its production was limited to a small series. Unable to field the Dart within the time period and for the cost the Army felt was reasonable development of the Dart project was cancelled.

Military interest in antitank weapons had wanged with the signing of the Armistice in November 1918 and was destined to remain so for over 20 years. Meanwhile, armor improvements proceeded so rapidly that available antitank weapons were soon found lacking in both penetration and range. At the outbreak of World War 11, the Germans, whose tanks of the previous war were failures, possessed vast numbers of improved tanks with which they overran Poland in 1939 and northern France in 1940. As the war progressed, many new antitank weapons with special ammunition were developed and put into the field in an attempt to stop the tanks of the German Panzer units.

After World War I1 the defeat of armored vehicles was made progressively more difficult by steady increases in the thickness and obliquities of armor in hulls and turrets, development of better fabrication techniques, the curving of armored surfaces to defeat projectiles, and the introduction of new types of armor. Because of these improvements the weapon-ammunition combinations that could penetrate the armor of World War 11 tanks could seldom pierce the armor of later models. A radically new series of antitank weapons had to be developed.

The military specialists of such countries as France, Federal Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Holland considered that ATGMs should be included-in the armament of small elements. In accordance with this, these countries developed light ATGM's with a fire of approximately 1.5 km. The ATGM, s are transported and serviced by one man. The United States, conversely, developed a heavy ATGM, the Dart, which was designed not only for destroying tanks, but also for demolishing strong defensive constructions.

The Ordnance Corps began an investigation to determine the feasibility of the new DART missile system, the initial proposal for which had been submitted by the Aerophysics Development Corporation in November 1951. From May to August 1952, Aerophysics conducted feasibility studies of the proposed DART system, which consisted essentially of a ground-launched, cruciform missile carrying a 20-pound shaped-charge warhead capable of penetrating 14 to 16 inches of armor within an effective range of 350 to 5,280 yards.

In structure, the DART missile would be similar to, but larger than, the French SS-10. It would have an overall length of 64 inches, a wing span of 2.64 feet, and a launching weight of about 85 pounds. Unlike the SS-10, which would be guided by wire throughout its flight, the DART would use both wire control and an infrared homing device. Since the DART would have a much longer range than the SS-10, a forward observer would control its direction during much of its flight, either to guide it onto a target or to a point where the homing device could take over and complete the mission.

The Dart was intended to be fired from vehicles (trucks, helicopters, etc) and relied on its operator to guide it to its target. After launch the missile lit off a bright flare on its tail that the operator could see visibly. As the missile moved towards the target the operator would send commands via the wire correcting the Dart's flight path. Testing indicated that it was far from easy for an operator to help the Dart reach its target so an infared terminal homing device was added. When Dart was close enough it could home directly in to its target thus hopefully making it easier to achieve a good hit for the operator.

In the remote-control system, the guidance error is determined and removed by a member of one crew, i.e., the operator. There are instruments, however, which make it possible to automate the process of guiding the missile to the target to some extenL. When the velocity of the missile is about 280 m/sec, it is difficult for the operator to react quickly to a change of the guidance error. Therefore, the guidance system of the Dart is partially automated. Part of the operator's job is executed by instruments.

The operator only matched the target and missile images. The magnitude and direction of the deviation is determined by a computer which also sends the necessary coumands. In automated remote-control systems, the measurement of guidance errors, and the shaping of control commands and their transmission to the missile is done automatically, without the participation of an operator. The launch complex of the art missile includes a telescopic optical instrument and an electronic computer. Two images are seen in the eyepiece of the optical instrument, which is directed on the target: the target image and the missile image. The operator's only function is to match up these two images. Everything else (determination of the magnitude and direction of the missile's deviation from the target, determination of the necessary command, and so forth) is executed by the electronic computer.

Conclusions of the feasibility study, submitted in August 1952, indicated that the DART missile system could be developed in a straightforward manner using the principles and techniques of the SS-10 which was already in the advanced development stage. Pending completion of the SS-10 evaluation then in progress, the Army Chief of Staff, in January 1953, authorized the establishment of a DART project limited to component studies and development. The promising results of these pre-development studies, together with unfavorable results of the SS-10 evaluation, led to selection of the DART system to fulfill existing requirements for an antitank guided missile. The DART development project was officially established on 27 August 1953 with a 1A priority.

Several variants of the missile were proposed, including those with a ring stabilizer. But in 1957, a model with a cruciform wing stabilizer was adopted. In its proposal of mid-August 1952, the Aerophysics Development Corporation optimistically predicted that the DART could be successfully developed in about 2 years and cost less than $1,000 in large quantities. More than 6 years and $47 million later, an acceptable DART system was yet to be developed and produced, causing a shift in user interest to the modified SS-10 system. A dramatic demonstration of the improved SS-10 system in Paris, France, during June 1957, showed beyond any doubt that the French had indeed achieved a reliable wire-guided antitank missile. The results of this demonstration were confirmed in U. S. service tests of the SS-10 in mid-1958.

The rocket was very heavy (up to 140 kg), and the guidance was extremely difficult. Unfortunately the system was very complicated, took longer to develop and was much more expensive than its initial proposal. The United States changed its view on the application of ATGMs.

In view of the stretchout in the DART development schedule, erosion of confidence in the ability of the contractor to solve basic technical problems, an escalation in program costs, and user statements favoring the improved SS-10 over the DART, the Department of Defense approved termination of the DART project in September 1958 and authorized the offshore procurement of sufficient SS-10 systems to meet interim antitank requirements of the US armed forces. The United States abandoned the "Dart" and in 1959 began to mass purchases of French SSG SS-10 and SS-11. Almost all of these ATGMs were installed by Americans on mobile installations - cars, tanks and helicopters. While never successfully fielded as an active service weapon system the Dart did try out concepts, such as wire guidance, that proved effective for later missile systems.