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Super 530

Close-up from another aircraft of two missiles under the wing of a French Mirage 2000 in flight: a large radar-guided missile and a smaller infrared one
A French Mirage 2000C on a NATO combat air patrol in April 1999, armed with a Super 530 (left) and a Magic 2.Photo: SrA Greg L. Davis, USAF. Public domain, work of the US federal government, via Wikimedia Commons (accessed 2026-10-27).

Drafted — not technically validated

Record revision 1 · The French radar-guided missile of the Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000, built to snap up at high targets.

Real-world weapon as described in public sources. Weights and dimensions change with the fins, fuzes and variant fitted; the data plate names the variants its figures describe, and differences are noted beside the number they affect. The record describes the weapon; it is not a guide to employing it.

Matra Super 530 medium-range air-to-air missile · Super 530F and 530D

Type
Short-to-medium-range semi-active radar air-to-air missile [1]
Origin
France; an improved R.530 [1]
In service
Super 530F on the Mirage F1 from 1979; Super 530D on the Mirage 2000 from 1988 [1]
Weight
245 kg (530F) or 270 kg (530D) [1]
Dimensions
Length 3.54 m (530F) or 3.80 m (530D); diameter 263 mm [1]
Warhead or payload
30 kg (66 lb) high-explosive fragmentation [1]
Guidance
Semi-active radar homingHoming GlossaryNavigation: Flying to a station by keeping the bearing pointer at the top of the instrument without correcting for wind. In a crosswind it flies a curved path.Weapons: The technique whereby a mobile station directs itself, or is directed, towards a source of primary or reflected energy, or to a specified point.; the 530D seeker adds Doppler filtering for low-altitude targets [1]
Motor
Solid-fuel rocket; the 530D has a more powerful dual-thrust motor [1]
Range
About 25 km for the 530F and 40 km for the 530D, at best [1]
Carried by
  • Super 530F: Mirage F1Mirage F1 AircraftA swept-wing French fighter sold to eleven countries and flown in many wars. [1]
  • Super 530D: Mirage 2000Mirage 2000C AircraftFrance's fly-by-wire delta interceptor, armed with Super 530D and Magic II missiles. [1]
Variants
  • Super 530F [1]
  • Super 530D: longer stainless-steel body, new motor and reprogrammable seeker [1]

Two missiles, one shape

The Super 530 improves on the R.530. Its two versions share the same cruciform wings, tail controls and 30 kg warhead, but the 530D has a longer stainless-steel body holding a dual-thrust motor and a new seeker with Doppler filtering for low-level targets and a reprogrammable processor. [1] The 530D’s makers claim it can intercept up to 24,400 m, snap up 12,200 m above the launching fighter and snap down to targets at 60 m. [1] The 530F arms the Mirage F1Mirage F1 AircraftA swept-wing French fighter sold to eleven countries and flown in many wars. and the 530D the Mirage 2000Mirage 2000C AircraftFrance's fly-by-wire delta interceptor, armed with Super 530D and Magic II missiles.; both are being replaced by the MICA. [1]

Combat

Iraqi Mirage F1s fired Super 530Fs during the Iran–Iraq War. In 1983 an Iraqi Mirage F1EQ shot down one of two Turkish F-100Fs that had strayed into Iraqi airspace with a 530F; the incident came to light thirty years later. [1]

Sources

  1. Super 530. Wikipedia (secondary source). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_530 (accessed 2026-10-27).

Wikipedia articles are secondary sources and can change; they are cited with the date they were read. NAVEDTRA training manuals and budget justification exhibits are official US publications, but each describes the weapons in service when it was written.