It was 40 years ago this month that a French-made fighter aircraft carrying a French-made anti-ship missile resulted in the greatest loss of a Royal Navy warship since the Second World War. During the Falklands War, an Argentine Super Étendard strike fighter successfully launched an aptly-named AM39 Exocet (French for “Flying Fish”) missile – which struck the Type 42 guided missile destroyer HMS Sheffield on May 4, 1982. Finally, on May 30, two Argentine Super Étendard strike fighters attempted an attack with the last remaining air-launched Exocet in Argentina’s arsenal against the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Invincible. Seeing the success of the ship-launched version, development began in 1974 on the AM39, an air-launched version. The MM40 Block 3 missile began development in 2004, and it was first tested via ship launch in 2010.

Source: Forbes May 29, 2022 16:40 UTC