This color U.S. Navy film is about the NATO Seasparrow Surface Missile System. Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles.
This is circa the late 1960s/early 1970s (in 1968, Denmark, Italy, and Norway signed an agreement with the US Navy to use the Sea Sparrow on their ships, and collaborate on improved versions) and the film was made by the Navy’s Naval Ship Weapons Engineering Station at Port Hueneme, California.
Opening: A cowboy pulls a gun from a holster, troops fire a rocket, guns fire from a battleship. A missile is fired from a Bomber. Planes and ships fire missiles. Title: NATO Seasparrow Surface Missile System (:23-:54). NATO flags fly. Seasparrow Missile is fired into the air. Missile hits its target in the air and there is an explosion. A helicopter is shown over a U.S. warship. Seasparrow Surface Missile System is shown in use aboard a ship, and then it’s tested. Missile flies through the air. KMN Bergen was a C-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy that also had the Seasparrow Surface Missile System. The Seasparrow Surface Missile System is explained and show via diagrams. F-4 Phantom drone and Ryan BQ-34A Firebee target drone / UAV used in tests at Naval Missile Center, Pt. Mugu (2:05). Radar antenna on a ship (:55-3:13). A man works with a computer. Target detection. Radar tech console. Radar is watched. Radar screen (3:14-4:51). A general purpose computer. Launcher pointers. A man watches a radar screen. Missile is fired. Signal converter. Low light level television system. Radar tech watches radar. Guided missile sub system is shown via diagram (4:52-6:30). Launcher system is closed. It swivels. A Sparrow 3 missile is loaded in to be fired. It is then fired ion the sky. Radar techs watch screens. Performance indicator screens/buttons. Indicator lights on the general computer. A test set is turned on (6:31-8:26). Radar tech. Missile is fired. Planes fly in the sky. Plane flies by the ship. Radar tech. Ready mode. Radar screens. Track mode. Jet flies by. Radar antennas spin and move (8:27-10:54). Buttons on the computer panel. Radar is watched. Antenna spins. Computer. Radar tech. Radar screens. Target status lights. Missile is fired in slow motion (10:55-12:40).Radar operator watches screens. Missile hits target in the sky. Radar techs, antennas, screens. Seasparrow Surface Missile is fired (12:41-13:34). End credits (13:35-13:44).
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a lightweight “point-defense” weapon that could be retrofitted to existing ships as quickly as possible, often in place of existing gun-based anti-aircraft weapons. In this incarnation, it was a very simple system guided by a manually aimed radar illuminator. Today, Sea Sparrow remains an important part of a layered air defense system, providing a short/medium-range component especially useful against sea-skimming missiles.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
