Missile builder claims superiority

Press, 10 October 1984, Page 28

Missile builder claims superiority

NZPA-AP London The French manufacturer of the Exocet missile has boasted in a full-page advertisement in the “Economist” that the weapon has hit 103 vessels in the Persian Gulf and disabled at least 47. “Exocet is and remains the leader in its category ... that is why it upsets people so much,” said the advertisement for the manufacturers, Aerospatiale.

The figures used in the Aerospatiale advertisement exceed the number of ships Lloyds of London has confirmed as being hit. The insurance underwriter has said 70 vessels were attacked in the Gulf during the period cited in the advertisement.

France has supplied Exocet missiles to Iraq, which has used them in attacks on commercial shipping in its four-year-old war with Iran. Such attacks were stepped up this year after Iraq declared a blockade of Iranian oil ports. The Aerospatiale advertisement said it had been published to dispute claims

that the Exocet which sank the British destroyer Sheffield during the Falkland Islands war failed to explode. The advertisement quoted the commander of the Sheffield, Captain Sam Salt, as saying: “I was there, and there is no doubt that the warhead exploded.” The Sheffield went down on May 4, 1982, with the loss of 20 British sailors, .during Britain’s successful campaign to regain control of the Falkland Islands from Argentina. The “Economist’s" editor, Mr Andrew Knight, said publication of the Exocet advertisement had not provoked public comment. “We have yet to have anybody ring us or write to us or mention it to us,” Mr Knight said, a few days after the “Economist” came out with the Aerospatiale advertisement.

As of July 10, the advertisement said, 112 ships were hit by Exocets in the Persian Gulf, and of that total, 60 hits were confirmed and 52 were probable. It said 103 cases had been analysed, and 57 ships either sank, ran aground or

were towed home for scrapping. Damage to the other 46 varied.

Only one case of a nonexplosion was recorded in the Persian Gulf, the advertisement said. It said: “Exocet’s mission is not necessarily to sink an enemy ship, but rather to disable it.”

The Exocet missile skims over the surface of the sea at about 1100 km/h, and can be fired from as far as 30km away from the target. Its speed makes it difficult to spot and shoot down, although there are rapidfire guns and missiles advertised for sale to defend against the Exocet.