Sea Dart launcher

Sea Dart is a surface to air missile system mounted on air defence destroyers of the Royal Navy.

The weapon is 4.4m long and weighs 550kg. It is powered by a combination of solid fuel booster rocket, which is used for launching the missile, and simple ramjet, which gives it a speed of mach 2. The missile is effective over a range of approximately 80km.

Sea Dart entered service in 1967 on HMS Bristol, before becoming widespread on the Type 42 destroyers. The missile system was also fitted to Invincible class aircraft carriers but was removed during refits in the 1998-2000 period to increase the area of the flight deck.

The Sea Dart equipped Type 42s are reaching the end of their service lives, with some vessels already retired. Construction has begun on the Type 45 class which, with the much more capable PAAMS missile system, will replace the Type 42 from 2007.