RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a US ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a lightweight "point defense" weapon that could be retrofitted to existing ships as quickly as possible, often in place of existing gun-based anti-aircraft weapons. In this incarnation it was a very simple system, guided by a manually aimed radar illuminator. Since its introduction, the Sea Sparrow has undergone significant development and now resembles the AIM-7 only in general form; it is larger, faster and includes a new seeker and a launch system suitable for vertical launch from modern warships. Fifty years after its development, the Sea Sparrow remains an important part of a layered air defense system, providing a short/medium-range component especially useful against sea-skimming missiles.
Read more about RIM-7 Sea Sparrow: Operators
Famous quotes containing the words sea and/or sparrow:
“If the sea were ink
For the words of my Lord,
the sea would be spent before the Words of my Lord are spent.”
—Qur’An. The Cave 18:109, ed. Arthur J. Arberry (1955)
“A sparrow enters the tree,
Whereon immediately
A snow lump thrice his own slight size
Descends on him and showers his head and eyes,
And overturns him,”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)