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89-533: Swingfire was a British wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993. The name refers to its ability to make a rapid turn of up to ninety degrees after firing to bring it onto the line of the sighting mechanism. This means that the launcher vehicle could be concealed and the operator, using a portable sight, placed at a distance in a more advantageous firing position. Swingfire entered operational service in 1969 and underwent several major upgrades during its time in service. It

178-654: A 1984 purchase of 3,500 sights. British Aerospace later introduced a thermal imaging sight that gave the missile much better night time performance. Swingfire was developed by Fairey Engineering Ltd and the British Aircraft Corporation , together with Wallop Industries Ltd and minor subcontractors. It replaced the Vickers Vigilant missile in British service. Besides its use on the FV438 Swingfire and

267-711: A General European Treaty on Collective Security in Europe "open to all European States without regard to their social systems", which would have included the unified Germany (thus rendering the EDC obsolete). But Eden, Dulles, and Bidault opposed the proposal. One month later, the proposed European Treaty was rejected not only by supporters of the EDC, but also by Western opponents of the European Defence Community (like French Gaullist leader Gaston Palewski ) who perceived it as "unacceptable in its present form because it excludes

356-615: A UN resolution to establish a nuclear-free zone in Latin America when the other Soviet-aligned countries abstained, or why in 1964 Romania opposed the Soviet-proposed "strong collective riposte" against China (and these are examples solely from the 1963–1964 period). Soviet disinformation tried to convince the West that Ceaușescu's empowerment was a dissimulation in connivance with Moscow. To an extent this worked, as some historians came to see

445-479: A heavy anti-tank missile when they introduced the Malkara in 1958. The Malkara had a number of problems, among them that the missiles had to be raised into the line of sight for firing, and the missile left a line of smoke from its rocket motor that lingered long enough to point directly back to the launcher. Additionally, the guidance system was difficult to use and had limited performance against moving targets. Malkara

534-459: A heavyweight missile was less pressing and development of Orange William was cancelled in September 1959. Through the same period, a much lighter man-portable weapon was also being developed, the Vickers Vigilant . Based on the experience with Malkara, Vigilant introduced a much improved guidance system. While it was still manual, requiring the gunner to watch the missile approach the target, it used

623-452: A hinge at the rear that allowed them to be lowered for reloading. It swung through an angle of 45 degrees so the front was pointed slightly downward when lowered to allow the loader easy access to the front of the tubes from inside the vehicle. On firing, the rocket exhaust was directed forward through the tube, thereby eliminating any danger to troops near the vehicle. The forward-firing rocket blast proved so powerful that it sometimes damaged

712-495: A major objective of US policy towards Europe: to associate West Germany militarily with the West. The US Department of State started to elaborate alternatives: West Germany would be invited to join NATO or, in the case of French obstructionism, strategies to circumvent a French veto would be implemented in order to obtain German rearmament outside NATO. On 23 October 1954 , the admission of

801-542: A much larger design similar to the Swingfire. The US suggested the British adopt the TOW, but the necessity for the tracker to be inline with the missile throughout its flight was considered completely unacceptable to the British while the US saw this as irrelevant. Any plans to introduce TOW in British service ended. Initially, some consideration was given to adding four Swingfire missiles to

890-583: A nationalist, as well as privileged access to NATO counterparts and a seat at various European forums which otherwise he would not have had (for instance, Romania and the Soviet-led remainder of the Warsaw Pact formed two distinct groups in the elaboration of the Helsinki Final Act ). When Andrei Grechko assumed command of the Warsaw Pact, both Romania and Albania had for all practical purposes defected from

979-567: A new method of sending corrections to the missile that was far easier for the gunner to use, especially against moving targets. Vigilant went on to see widespread use in several nations including the United States. The basic idea of under-cover fire remained of interest to the Army after the cancellation of Orange William, and the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE)

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1068-515: A remilitarized West Germany potentially opposed to the Soviet Union, with no success. On 14 May 1955, the USSR and seven other Eastern European countries "reaffirming their desire for the establishment of a system of European collective security based on the participation of all European states irrespective of their social and political systems" established the Warsaw Pact in response to the integration of

1157-478: A turret for a vehicle light enough for the requirements proved impossible and the project was cancelled in 1964. In its place, an even lighter aluminium armoured vehicle was designed, the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), or CVR(T). This differed from AVR primarily in abandoning the single turret concept and using mission-specific turrets on different vehicles. The most widely produced version

1246-568: The Bristol Channel along with 8 anti-tank mines . The warheads , with a total explosive weight equivalent to 64.2 kg of TNT , were never located. Wire-guided missile The longest range wire-guided missiles in current use are limited to about 8 km (5.0 mi). Electrical wire guidance dates back to the early 20th century with an early example being the Lay Torpedo . A prototype ground-based electrical wire-guided torpedo

1335-656: The Cold War . The term "Warsaw Pact" commonly refers to both the treaty itself and its resultant military alliance , the Warsaw Treaty Organization ( WTO ). The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), the economic organization for the Eastern Bloc states. Dominated by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to

1424-870: The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 1992, and the Shanghai Five in 1996, which was renamed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) after Uzbekistan 's addition in 2001. In November 2005, the Polish government opened its Warsaw Treaty archives to the Institute of National Remembrance , which published some 1,300 declassified documents in January 2006, yet the Polish government reserved publication of 100 documents, pending their military declassification. Eventually, 30 of

1513-595: The Imre Nagy government of the withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact, Soviet troops entered the country and removed the government . Soviet forces crushed the nationwide revolt, leading to the death of an estimated 2,500 Hungarian citizens. The multi-national Communist armed forces' sole joint action was the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia , another Warsaw Pact member state, in August 1968. All member countries, with

1602-659: The Marshall Plan ." In November 1956, Soviet forces invaded Hungary , a Warsaw Pact member state, and violently put down the Hungarian Revolution . After that, the USSR made bilateral 20-year-treaties with Poland (17 December 1956), the GDR (12 March 1957), Romania (15 April 1957; Soviet forces were later removed as part of Romania's de-satellization ), and Hungary (27 May 1957), ensuring that Soviet troops were deployed in these countries. The founding signatories of

1691-530: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Western Bloc . There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars . Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs. The Warsaw Pact's largest military engagement was

1780-606: The Pan-European Picnic in August 1989. East Germany withdrew from the pact following German reunification in 1990. On 25 February 1991, at a meeting in Hungary, the pact was declared at an end by the defense and foreign ministers of the six remaining member states. The USSR itself was dissolved in December 1991 , although most of the former Soviet republics formed the Collective Security Treaty Organization shortly thereafter. In

1869-730: The Striker armoured vehicles, Swingfire was developed to be launched from other platforms: Swingfire was used in the Gulf War . After a lengthy debate, the Swingfire was replaced with the Javelin in mid-2005 to meet new and changing situational requirements. The British Army invested heavily in the Javelin, and it is now the main heavy anti-tank missile system in use by the British Army. In March 2002 20 warheads, removed for decommissioning, were washed into

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1958-691: The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia , its own member state, in August 1968 (with the participation of all pact nations except Albania and Romania ), which, in part, resulted in Albania withdrawing from the pact less than one month later. The pact began to unravel with the spread of the Revolutions of 1989 through the Eastern Bloc, beginning with the Solidarity movement in Poland, its electoral success in June 1989 and

2047-571: The Yom Kippur War of 1973. Wire guidance has remained the main system for most smaller weapons although newer systems such as laser beam riding have come into use in anti-aircraft and some anti-tank use roles (such as the US Hellfire missile and the Russian 9M133 Kornet ). Some torpedoes can be wire-guided, such as the U.S. Mk 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo, Russian UGST torpedo, or

2136-629: The American hegemony (mainly military and economic) over NATO, all decisions of the North Atlantic Alliance required unanimous consensus in the North Atlantic Council and the entry of countries into the alliance was not subject to domination but rather a natural democratic process. In the Warsaw Pact, decisions were ultimately taken by the Soviet Union alone; the countries of the Warsaw Pact were not equally able to negotiate their entry in

2225-559: The Chieftain. Their external mounting was a significant problem, and fitting them required changes to the sighting systems, none of which was inexpensive. As the Royal Ordnance L11 main gun underwent development it proved far more powerful than expected and the extra hitting power of the Swingfire was no longer seen as a benefit worth the cost. In November 1962, GOR.1174 was issued for a light vehicle to carry Swingfire instead, selecting

2314-532: The FV432 as its basis. The original design called for a roof-mounted rack with two launcher tubes angled upward at about 30 degrees. This allowed the vehicle to be placed behind barriers or inside entrenchments and the missile would pop up above it to clear the barrier. Aiming was accomplished either by the remote sight or one permanently mounted on a periscopic extension on top of the vehicle that allowed it to see over any fortifications in front. The launchers were mounted on

2403-518: The Federal Republic of Germany into NATO, declaring that: "a remilitarized Western Germany and the integration of the latter in the North-Atlantic bloc [...] increase the danger of another war and constitutes a threat to the national security of the peaceable states; [...] in these circumstances the peaceable European states must take the necessary measures to safeguard their security". One of

2492-473: The Federal Republic of Germany to the North Atlantic Pact was finally decided. The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955 was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard Lange , Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway at the time. In November 1954, the USSR requested a new European Security Treaty, in order to make a final attempt to not have

2581-545: The Pact consisted of the following communist governments: [REDACTED]   Mongolia : In July 1963, the Mongolian People's Republic asked to join the Warsaw Pact under Article 9 of the treaty. Due to the emerging Sino-Soviet split , Mongolia remained in an observer status. In what was the first instance of a Soviet initiative being blocked by a non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact, Romania blocked Mongolia's accession to

2670-476: The Pact nor the decisions taken. Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Pact's primary function was to safeguard the Soviet Union's hegemony over its Eastern European satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away. Romania and, until 1968, Albania – were exceptions. Together with Yugoslavia, which broke with

2759-439: The Pact. In the early 1960s, Grechko initiated programs meant to preempt Romanian doctrinal heresies from spreading to other Pact members. Romania's doctrine of territorial defense threatened the Pact's unity and cohesion. No other country succeeded in escaping from the Warsaw Pact like Romania and Albania did. For example, the mainstays of Romania's tank forces were locally developed models. Soviet troops were deployed to Romania for

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2848-570: The Russians and to press on the European Defense Community". According to John Gaddis , "there was little inclination in Western capitals to explore this offer" from the USSR, while historian Rolf Steininger asserts that Adenauer's conviction that "neutralization means sovietization ", referring to the Soviet Union's policies towards Finland known as finlandization , was the main factor in

2937-474: The Soviet Union before the Warsaw Pact was created, these three countries completely rejected the Soviet doctrine formulated for the Pact. Albania officially left the organization in 1968, in protest of its invasion of Czechoslovakia. Romania had its own reasons for remaining a formal member of the Warsaw Pact, such as Nicolae Ceaușescu 's interest of preserving the threat of a Pact invasion so he could sell himself as

3026-457: The Soviet Union already had an armed presence and political domination all over its eastern satellite states by 1955, the pact has been long considered "superfluous", and because of the rushed way in which it was conceived, NATO officials labeled it a "cardboard castle". The USSR, fearing the restoration of German militarism in West Germany, had suggested in 1954 that it join NATO, but this

3115-867: The Soviet Union arrogated the right to define socialism and communism and act as the leader of the global socialist movement. A corollary to this was the necessity of military intervention if a country appeared to be "violating" core socialist ideas, i.e. breaking away from the Soviet sphere of influence , explicitly stated in the Brezhnev Doctrine . estimates On 12 March 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO ; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in March 2004; Croatia and Albania joined on 1 April 2009. The USSR's successor Russia and some other post-Soviet states joined

3204-621: The Soviets decided to declare their "readiness to examine jointly with other interested parties the question of the participation of the USSR in the North Atlantic bloc", specifying that "the admittance of the USA into the General European Agreement should not be conditional on the three Western powers agreeing to the USSR joining the North Atlantic Pact". Again, all Soviet proposals, including

3293-472: The Soviets that it would remain in the Pact, this broke the brackets of Eastern Europe, which could no longer be held together militarily by the Warsaw Pact. Independent national politics made feasible with the perestroika and liberal glasnost policies revealed shortcomings and failures (i.e. of the soviet-type economic planning model) and induced institutional collapse of the Communist government in

3382-654: The Swedish Torped 613 , which is guided by an insulated wire. This is a timeline of notable early wire-guided missiles. Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact ( WP ), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance ( TFCMA ), was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw , Poland , between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during

3471-403: The US and Canada, and the company agreed to develop a new motor for Swingfire to be available for 1972. Another lingering problem was that the gyro which kept the missile flying level tended to drift, but this was corrected simply by angling the launch tubes up more. A larger upgrade was the "Swingfire Improved Guidance", or SWIG. This added an infrared tracker to the vehicle optics that tracked

3560-417: The USA from participation in the collective security system in Europe". The Soviets then decided to make a new proposal to the governments of the US, UK, and France to accept the participation of the US in the proposed General European Agreement. As another argument deployed against the Soviet proposal was that it was perceived by Western powers as "directed against the North Atlantic Pact and its liquidation",

3649-845: The USSR , and the Chief of Combined Staff of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization was also a First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces . On the contrary, the Secretary General of NATO and Chair of the NATO Military Committee are positions with fixed term of office held on a random rotating basis by officials from all member countries through consensus. Despite

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3738-580: The USSR in 1991. From 1989 to 1991, Communist governments were overthrown in Albania , Poland , Hungary , Czechoslovakia , East Germany , Romania , Bulgaria , Yugoslavia , and the Soviet Union . As the last acts of the Cold War were playing out, several Warsaw Pact states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary) participated in the US-led coalition effort to liberate Kuwait in the Gulf War . On 25 February 1991,

3827-411: The United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies implemented strategic policies aimed at the containment of each other in Europe, while working and fighting for influence within the wider Cold War on the international stage. These included the Korean War , Vietnam War , Bay of Pigs invasion , Dirty War , Cambodian–Vietnamese War , and others. In 1956, following the declaration of

3916-412: The United States over the Western Bloc . All Warsaw Pact commanders had to be, and have been, senior officers of the Soviet Union at the same time and appointed for an unspecified term length: the Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization , which commanded and controlled all the military forces of the member countries, was also a First Deputy Minister of Defence of

4005-413: The United States, meeting Nixon , Eisenhower , and Dulles . Ratification of the EDC was delayed but the US representatives made it clear to Adenauer that the EDC would have to become a part of NATO. Memories of the Nazi occupation were still strong, and the rearmament of Germany was feared by France too. On 30 August 1954, the French Parliament rejected the EDC, thus ensuring its failure and blocking

4094-484: The Warsaw Pact was declared disbanded at a meeting of defence and foreign ministers from remaining Pact countries meeting in Hungary. On 1 July 1991, in Prague , the Czechoslovak President Václav Havel formally ended the 1955 Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and so disestablished the Warsaw Treaty after 36 years of military alliance with the USSR. The USSR disestablished itself in December 1991. The Warsaw Treaty's organization

4183-408: The Warsaw Pact, regardless of military power, was the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989. The event, which goes back to an idea by Otto von Habsburg , caused the mass exodus of GDR citizens and the media-informed population of Eastern Europe felt the loss of power of their rulers and the Iron Curtain broke down completely. Though Poland's new Solidarity government under Lech Wałęsa initially assured

4272-449: The Warsaw Pact. The Soviet government agreed to station troops in Mongolia in 1966. At first, China , North Korea , and North Vietnam had observer status, but China withdrew in 1961 as a consequence of the Albanian-Soviet split , in which China backed Albania against the USSR as part of the larger Sino-Soviet split of the early 1960s. For 36 years, NATO and the Warsaw Pact never directly waged war against each other in Europe;

4361-418: The breakup of their missile team, Fairey was issued a new development contract in October 1959. The basic idea of the Swingfire concept was that thrust vectoring of the rocket exhaust allowed the missile to make extreme maneuvers, including a right-angle turn immediately after launch. This was especially useful in urban settings like Berlin ; the gunner could take the sight up to 100 metres (330 ft) from

4450-455: The complete withdrawal of the Soviet Army from its territory in 1958. The Romanian campaign for independence culminated on 22 April 1964 when the Romanian Communist Party issued a declaration proclaiming that: "Every Marxist–Leninist Party has a sovereign right...to elaborate, choose or change the forms and methods of socialist construction." and "There exists no "parent" party and "offspring" party, no "superior" and "subordinated" parties, but only

4539-410: The control wires or the missile itself. In one test, a simulated hangfire caused a fire that continued burning for three minutes and was believed it would have burned through the launcher and into the vehicle had it not been put out by a fire crew. The forward-exhaust concept was abandoned and a new launcher with open ports at the end of each tube was adopted. On launch, the exhaust hit the rear section of

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4628-411: The country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $ 15 billion to $ 20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under

4717-436: The enemy, and the gunner could easily remain hidden in a foxhole or building. While the rocket smoke would still give away the rough location of the launcher, the enemy would be unable to return fire against the hidden launcher and would have no idea where the gunner was located. As the Warsaw Pact greatly increased its number of tanks during the 1960s, the long-range missile was once again considered important. The Soviet plan

4806-409: The exception of the Socialist Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Albania , participated in the invasion. The German Democratic Republic provided only minimal support. (Albania withdrew from the pact one month after this intervention.) In 1989, popular civil and political public discontent toppled the Communist governments of the Warsaw Treaty countries. The beginning of the end of

4895-437: The following 20 years, the Warsaw Pact countries outside the USSR each joined NATO (East Germany through its reunification with West Germany; and the Czech Republic and Slovakia as separate countries), as did the Baltic states . Before the creation of the Warsaw Pact, the Czechoslovak leadership, fearful of a rearmed Germany, sought to create a security pact with East Germany and Poland. These states protested strongly against

4984-517: The founding members, East Germany , was allowed to re-arm by the Soviet Union and the National People's Army was established as the armed forces of the country to counter the rearmament of West Germany. The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted war reparations from East Germany, Hungary , Romania , and Bulgaria using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour

5073-478: The front line while the small and heavily camouflaged guidance vehicle moved forward where it could see the enemy. Unfortunately, testing demonstrated the selected guidance system was easily blocked by smoke and dust, making it ineffective on the battlefield. Through this same period, the Army was developing the Royal Ordnance L11 120 mm gun for the Chieftain tank , as development continued it appeared it would be able to defeat any Soviet tank design. The need for

5162-416: The hand of Moscow behind every Romanian initiative. For instance, when Romania became the only Eastern European country to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, some historians have speculated that this was at Moscow's whim. However, this theory fails upon closer inspection. Even during the Cold War, some thought that Romanian actions were done at the behest of the Soviets, but Soviet anger at said actions

5251-405: The intelligence and security services. Not only did Romania not participate in joint operations with the KGB, but it also set up "departments specialized in anti-KGB counterespionage". Romania was neutral in the Sino-Soviet split . Its neutrality in the Sino-Soviet dispute along with being the small Communist country with the most influence in global affairs enabled Romania to be recognized by

5340-503: The large family of communist and workers' parties having equal rights." and also "there are not and there can be no unique patterns and recipes". This amounted to a declaration of political and ideological independence from Moscow. Following Albania's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, Romania remained the only Pact member with an independent military doctrine which denied the Soviet Union use of its armed forces and avoided absolute dependence on Soviet sources of military equipment. Romania

5429-417: The last time in 1963, as part of a Warsaw Pact exercise. After 1964, the Soviet Army was barred from returning to Romania, as the country refused to take part in joint Pact exercises. Even before the advent of Nicolae Ceaușescu , Romania was in fact an independent country, as opposed to the rest of the Warsaw Pact. To some extent, it was even more independent than Cuba (a communist Soviet-aligned state that

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5518-411: The launcher and position themselves along potential lines of approach, while the launcher parked down a side street or alleyways. The crew would then dial in the distance to the main line of fire and its angle relative to the launcher, and the missile would travel that distance and then turn, flying past the gunner and into his sights. The missiles could be fired without the launcher ever exposing itself to

5607-436: The long-range role. Of the several concepts studied in the US, the BGM-71 TOW was ultimately selected. TOW used a semi-automatic guidance system that was very easy to use and capable of easily tracking moving targets, but had limited accuracy in long-range use and had to fly directly at the target and thereby expose the gunner to attack. As TOW developed, it continued to grow larger and gain more range, ultimately emerging as

5696-403: The missiles began to work reliably. A significant problem was due to the rocket smoke. Previous missile designs like Malkara had left a smoke trail pointing directly back to the launcher which could then be attacked. Swingfire didn't need to be concerned about the smoke because the launcher itself would be hidden, so little effort was expended on using a lower-smoke design. However, in testing, it

5785-403: The re-militarization of West Germany . The Warsaw Pact was put in place as a consequence of the rearming of West Germany inside NATO . Soviet leaders, like many European leaders on both sides of the Iron Curtain , feared Germany being once again a military power and a direct threat. The consequences of German militarism remained a fresh memory among the Soviets and Eastern Europeans. As

5874-452: The region, such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. At the start of 1990, the Soviet foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze , implicitly confirmed the lack of Soviet influence over Ceaușescu's Romania. When asked whether it made sense for him to visit Romania less than two weeks after its revolution , Shevardnadze insisted that only by going in person to Romania could he figure out how to "restore Soviet influence". Romania requested and obtained

5963-410: The rejection of the Soviet proposals. Adenauer also feared that German unification might have resulted in the end of the CDU's leading political role in the West German Bundestag. Consequently, Molotov, fearing that the EDC would be directed in the future against the USSR and "seeking to prevent the formation of groups of European States directed against the other European States", made a proposal for

6052-426: The request to join NATO, were rejected by the UK, US, and French governments shortly after. Emblematic was the position of British General Hastings Ismay , a fierce supporter of NATO expansion . He opposed the request to join NATO made by the USSR in 1954 saying that "the Soviet request to join NATO is like an unrepentant burglar requesting to join the police force". In April 1954, Adenauer made his first visit to

6141-524: The reunification of Germany were nothing new: earlier on 20 March 1952, talks about a German reunification, initiated by the so-called ' Stalin Note ', ended after the United Kingdom , France , and the United States insisted that a unified Germany should not be neutral and should be free to join the European Defence Community (EDC) and rearm. James Dunn (US), who met in Paris with Eden, Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), and Robert Schuman (France), affirmed that "the object should be to avoid discussion with

6230-426: The rocket motor exhaust and sent the correct commands to the missile to bring it inline with the sights. This was the same basic system used on the TOW. This makes missile guidance much easier as the gunner simply has to keep their sight pointed at the target and does not have to make any corrections themselves. Barr & Stroud introduced an infrared spotting scope that was evaluated by the Army in 1982. This led to

6319-418: The target, so a new version was designed with five launcher tubes in a box along the rear of the vehicle. Another five rounds are stored in the vehicle, and like FV438, the tubes can be reloaded by lowering the tubes but the rounds have to be inserted from outside the vehicle. The problem with the rocket exhaust became evident during the period in which new low-smoke solid rocket motors were being developed in

6408-542: The training systems were inadequate. The new owners of the system, British Aerospace , agreed to make several changes to the design, and the Army eventually accepted the design on a provision basis in August. In 1960, the Army launched the Armored Vehicle Reconnaissance (AVR) program for a light tracked reconnaissance vehicle. The initial concept called for a single turret mounting both a gun and missiles, presumably Swingfire. However, attempts to design such

6497-455: The treaty signatories were based upon mutual non-intervention in the internal affairs of the member countries, respect for national sovereignty , and political independence. However, de facto , the Pact was a direct reflection of the USSR's authoritarianism and undisputed domination over the Eastern Bloc , in the context of the so-called Soviet Empire , which was not comparable to that of

6586-553: The usage of the term "independent" to describe Romania's relations with the Soviet Union, favoring "autonomy" instead on account of the country's continued membership within both the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact along with its commitment to socialism, this approach fails to explain why in July 1963 Romania blocked Mongolia 's accession to the Warsaw Pact, why in November 1963 Romania voted in favor of

6675-432: The vehicle deck and was deflected and spread out to a degree. Another change was that the two tubes were now separately mounted, instead of sharing a common hinge, which allowed one to be lowered for reload while the other was still in firing position. During testing, the system proved to have a huge number of minor problems and continually failed. It was not until 1969 that the system was considered even partially usable and

6764-488: The world as the "third force" of the Communist world. Romania's independence – achieved in the early 1960s through its freeing from its Soviet satellite status – was tolerated by Moscow because Romania was not bordering the Iron Curtain – being surrounded by socialist states – and because its ruling party was not going to abandon communism. Although certain historians such as Robert King and Dennis Deletant argue against

6853-458: Was "persuasively genuine". In truth, the Soviets were not beyond publicly aligning themselves with the West against the Romanians at times. The strategy behind the formation of the Warsaw Pact was driven by the desire of the Soviet Union to prevent Central and Eastern Europe being used as a base for its enemies. Its policy was also driven by ideological and geostrategic reasons. Ideologically,

6942-714: Was built by the Germans during World War II . The pair of deployed German guided air-delivered ordnance designs, the Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293 , both used the Kehl-Strassburg radio guidance system for control. However, because the British proved to be able to develop countermeasures to interfere with the Germans' use of the Kehl-Strassburg ordnance guidance system, rushed projects were started in 1944 in order to develop alternatives. The first system to be modified in this fashion

7031-491: Was found that the smoke was thick enough to obscure the missile or the target. This was especially a problem at long range when the missile was being viewed through the entire column of smoke. This made aiming at long range largely a matter of luck, and as a result the accuracy proved to be below specifications. The missile was initially presented to the Army for acceptance in July 1969. and on 28 July they initially rejected it until additional corrections were made. They also found

7120-445: Was given £250,000 a year to continue research into the basic concepts. As part of the resulting Project 12, they developed two basic concepts, Quickfire and Swingfire. The former appears to be a fast-action weapon, but few details have been made public. The latter was designed to allow it to be fired from under cover, like Orange William. As the company already had experience in the indirect fire role, and fearing it would otherwise lead to

7209-531: Was nevertheless purchased for the airborne infantry to allow them to deal with Soviet armour at long range. Desiring a more capable weapon, the Ministry of Supply funded the Orange William development at Fairey Engineering Ltd beginning in 1954. The idea behind Orange William was that the launcher and guidance systems were separated by up to 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), allowing the launcher to remain far behind

7298-460: Was not a member of the Warsaw Pact). The Romanian regime was largely impervious to Soviet political influence, and Ceaușescu was the only declared opponent of glasnost and perestroika . On account of the contentious relationship between Bucharest and Moscow, the West did not hold the Soviet Union responsible for the policies pursued by Bucharest. This was not the case for the other countries in

7387-521: Was rejected by the US. The Soviet request to join NATO arose in the aftermath of the Berlin Conference of January–February 1954. Soviet foreign minister Molotov made proposals to have Germany reunified and elections for a pan-German government, under conditions of withdrawal of the four powers ' armies and German neutrality, but all were refused by the other foreign ministers, Dulles (US), Eden (UK), and Bidault (France). Proposals for

7476-541: Was the FV101 Scorpion which mounted the 76 mm L23A1 gun firing HESH rounds capable of destroying most armoured vehicles, but not main battle tanks . For the heavy anti-tank role, the FV102 Striker was designed, initially with a rotating turret mounting two Swingfire missiles on either side of the optics in the centre. However, this concept was seen as flawed as there was no need to rotate Swingfire to point at

7565-521: Was the Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile . Other examples included the X-4 missile . The X-7 influenced other military thinkers after the war. By the early 1950s a number of experimental systems had been developed (for example, Malkara missile ), leading to their widespread deployment in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Large numbers of Israeli tanks were destroyed using wire-guided AT-3 Sagger missiles during

7654-440: Was the only non-Soviet Warsaw Pact member which was not obliged to militarily defend the Soviet Union in case of an armed attack. Bulgaria and Romania were the only Warsaw Pact members that did not have Soviet troops stationed on their soil. In December 1964, Romania became the only Warsaw Pact member (save Albania, which would leave the Pact altogether within 4 years) from which all Soviet advisors were withdrawn, including those in

7743-507: Was to simply overrun NATO forces using sheer numbers, so a weapon that could attrit these forces before they reached friendly forces was highly desirable. The US Army was equally interested in such a system, and in July 1961 the two countries signed the Rubel-Zuckerman Agreement for further development. Under this plan, the US would concentrate on short-range rapid-fire weapons, while RARDE would continue Swingfire development for

7832-595: Was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled political matters, and the Combined Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw , Poland. Although an apparently similar collective security alliance, the Warsaw Pact differed substantially from NATO. De jure , the eight-member countries of the Warsaw Pact pledged the mutual defense of any member who would be attacked; relations among

7921-558: Was used on a number of vehicles including the FV438 , FV102 and several truck mountings including the Land Rover and Ferret armoured car . Concepts adapting it to helicopters , tanks and even hovercraft went nowhere. Swingfire remained in service on the FV102 Striker until 2005 when they were retired in favour of man-portable missiles. The British Army was among the first to introduce

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