SS.11 AGM-22

Go Back to Anti-Tank Weapon

Go Back To Weapons Home

	Weapon: SS.11 AGM-22 Type: Anti-Tank Weapon Country of Origin: France Year Adopted: 1956 Caliber: 165mm 6.8kg warhead Action: LOS Command Guided Missile Overall Length (mm): 1190.0 Overall Length (in): 46.85 Weight (kg): 30.00 Weight (pounds): 66.14 Effective Range (m): 3000 m Effective Range (miles): 1.86

The SS.11 was a French wire-guided anti-tank missile developed by Nord Aviation in the early 1950s (design dated c.1953) and introduced into service in 1956. It used manual command-to-line-of-sight (MCLOS) guidance: an operator tracked the missile visually (using a bright tail flare) and steered it to the target via joystick commands transmitted down thin guidance wires. Air-launched variants were designated AS.11 (and accepted into U.S. service as the AGM-22), and launch options included tripod/vehicle launchers, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopter mounts - making the SS.11 one of the first truly versatile, small-form ATG/ATGM systems.

Production ran from the mid-1950s into the 1980s and the system was produced and exported in very large numbers; open sources commonly cite cumulative SS.11/AS.11 family production on the order of the low-to-mid hundreds of thousands (Wikipedia and contemporary references give figures around 170,000-180,000 examples when SS.12/AS.12 types are included in aggregate counts). The missile was widely adopted by NATO and many non-aligned states, and the U.S. Army evaluated and then accepted the air-to-ground AS.11/AGM-22 for helicopter use in the early 1960s (deployed on UH-1s and other types).

The SS.11 saw combat from the late 1950s onward - notably in French operations during the Algerian conflict and in numerous Middle Eastern and African wars - and became a standard export ATGM of the Cold War era. It earned a mixed reputation: highly successful as an early and affordable guided weapon that brought precision anti-armor capability to infantry and light aircraft, but demanding to operate under MCLOS doctrine (operator training and steady aiming were required). A later Harpon (or "Harpoon/Harpon") SACLOS upgrade introduced simpler, more accurate guidance and extended the missile's utility, while the SS.11's prolific export and long service life secured its legacy as one of the landmark early anti-tank missile designs.