Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sinking at least 25 ships. Allied efforts to jam the radio control link were increasingly successful despite German efforts to counter them. The weapon remained in use through 1944 when it was also used as an air-to-ground weapon to attack bridges to prevent the Allied breakout after D-Day, but proved almost useless in this role.
| Henschel Hs 293 | |
|---|---|
Hs 293 on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, Germany, with added "Kopfring" (lit. "head ring") on the nose for nautical targets | |
| Type | Anti-ship glide bomb |
| Place of origin | Nazi Germany |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1943–1945 |
| Used by | Luftwaffe |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1940–1943 |
| Manufacturer | Henschel Flugzeug-Werke AG |
| Produced | 1942 - ? |
| No. built | 1,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 1,045 kilograms (2,304 lb) |
| Length | 3.82 metres (12.5 ft) |
| Width | 3.1 metres (10 ft) |
| Diameter | 0.47 metres (1.5 ft) |
| Warhead | explosive |
| Warhead weight | 295 kilograms (650 lb) |
| Engine | liquid-propellant rocket HWK 109-507 motor, 5.9 kN (1,300 lbf) thrust for 10 s; subsequently glided to target |
Operational range | at 2.2 kilometres (7,200 ft) altitude: 4 kilometres (13,000 ft) at 4 kilometres (13,000 ft) altitude: 5.5 kilometres (18,000 ft) at 5 kilometres (16,000 ft) altitude: 8.5 kilometres (28,000 ft) |
| Maximum speed | maximum: 260 metres per second (850 ft/s) average: 230 metres per second (750 ft/s) |
Guidance system | Kehl-Strassburg FuG 203/230; MCLOS using a joystick |
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