RSA Missile

No further sales were forthcoming. Several improved versions followed, including the RSC-54, RSC-56, RSC-57 and RSC/RSD-58. These saw small numbers of sales, mostly as training rounds.

• Is Missile — yes • Name — RSA • Type — Surface-to-air missile • Origin — Switzerland • Launch Platform — vehicle or trailer • Manufacturer — Oerlikon Contraves • Design Date — 1946 - 1958 • Diameter — 40 cm • Wingspan — 140 cm • Weight — Missile: 400 kg, Carrier wagon without Missile: 4000 kg • Speed — Mach 1.8 • Filling — 40 kg warhead • Engine — nitric acid and kerosene • Steering — control surfaces • Guidance — Beam-riding

Oerlikon had been a leader in the development of anti-aircraft weapons after its purchase of the SEMAG company in 1924, and the subsequent takeover by Emil Georg Bührle the next year. Their most famous products were the variety of Oerlikon 20 mm cannon that started at SEMAG and underwent considerable further development prior to the opening of World War II. By this time two developments were widely known and used, the Oerlikon FF in the aircraft role, and the Oerlikon SS which was widely used by many naval forces as a short-range anti-aircraft weapon, and in Canadian service, a light-anti-ship and anti-submarine weapon. By the mid-war period, most of the armies concluded that anti-aircraft artillery was practically useless against high-flying targets, and would become completely so with the introduction of jet engines. The Germans, British and US all began guided missile efforts to fill this role, hoping to replace heavy anti-aircraft artillery. None of these designs would come into service during the war, although the German Wasserfall missile was the closest to a practical service-quality device. With the ending of the war, news of these developments quickly spread into the weapons community, and Oerlikon, among others, began their own missile development programs.

The RSA was developed in partnership by Oerlikon-Bührle and Contraves, starting in 1947. Development proceeded quickly, and the system was first offered for commercial sale in 1950 as the RSC-50 (if a RSB version existed it is not recorded in the few sources covering this system). Development continued, and by the next year twenty-five of the slightly improved RSC-51 were purchased by the US Army as experimental rounds. They were tested under the name MX-1868 by the Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman Air Force Base in 1952.

Development of the basic concept continued, with various release versions being the RSC-54, RSC-56, RSC-57, and finally the RSD-58. All of these used similar guidance systems, with variations to the missile being more prominent.

The RSA series saw little or no use in the anti-aircraft role, and only small numbers of the armed version appear to have been produced. It did see some use as a training round, by replacing the warhead with a parachute system that allowed recovery and reuse of the missiles. Small numbers of these designs appear to have been sold to Switzerland, Italy, Sweden and Japan.

Mounted on the trailer-base of the 34 mm cannon Flab 38, the target tracking and illumination radar has a three-axis alignment system for the tracking antenna and the guiding beacon. It can precisely track overhead targets. The missile guides itself to the center of the guiding beam. It was manufactured by Contraves AG and the BBC. The target tracking system uses conical-scan radar and guidance beam,. It uses a rotating beacon with primary radiator without reflector, with electronically driven three directional axes. • Wide= 2 m • Height (in driving mode)= 3.5 m • Height = 4 m • Weight = 4 t

• Illustration — Guiding beam/target radar at Flieger-Flab-Museum • Illustration — Missile on launcher wagon at Flieger-Flab-Museum