Originally Posted by
Tartiflette Fan
How effective was Rapier ? I only recall the initial disastrous performance in the Falklands.
Rapier had a lot of issues in the Falklands, The Field Standard A model deployed wasn't the most reliable bit of kit and required field servicing kit to set it up correctly, which was not deployed (as it was vehicle mounted). The siting plan for the defence of San Carlos was done at Malvern and didn't take in any account of what the terrain was actually like at the positions chosen. The system wasn't designed to engage targets below the system and thus anything flying below the fire units could not be engaged. The system was very good against approaching and receding targets but next to useless against high speed crossing ones, and that was most of the targets that Rapier had to deal with between 21st and 26th May 82. One other major obstacle which I've only just become aware of was that Army were told to switch the surveillance radars off on their fire units as it interfered with the radars on board the warships, which pretty much made actually acquiring a target in the first place very difficult. Thus it was a miracle that Rapier got any kills at all (One confirmed and two shared). Most of the flaws were fixed in upgrades to the FSB version and the FSC system was actually a very good bit of kit both operationally and reliably wise.