Nimrod is a long-range air-to-surface

Air-to-surface missile

An air-to-surface missile is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft and strike ground targets on land, at sea, or both...

 and surface-to-surface missile

Surface-to-surface missile

A surface-to-surface missile is a guided projectile launched from a hand-held, vehicle mounted, trailer mounted or fixed installation or from a ship. They are often powered by a rocket motor or sometimes fired by an explosive charge, since the launching platform is typically stationary or moving...

 developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. While primarily designed for anti-tank

Anti-tank guided missile

An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....

 use, it provides standoff strike capability against a variety of point targets such as APC

Armoured personnel carrier

An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...

s, ship

Ship

Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

s, bunker

Bunker

A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...

s, personnel concentrations and guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

s.

Nimrod has a semi-active laser guidance

Laser guidance

Laser guidance is a technique of guiding a missile or other projectile or vehicle to a target by means of a laser beam. Some laser guided systems utilise beam riding guidance, but most operate more similarly to semi-active radar homing . This technique is sometimes called SALH, for Semi-Active...

 system, capable of day and night operation. Its flight trajectory

Trajectory

A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...

 can be set below obscuring cloud layers, while a forward scouting team uses a laser designator

Laser designator

A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, Lockheed-Martin's Hellfire, or the Copperhead round, respectively.When a...

 to direct it from up to 26 km behind.

Nimrod may be installed on a variety of towed launchers, light combat vehicle launchers, helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

s, and fixed-wing aircraft

Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

. The primary helicopter launch platform for the Nimrod in the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 is a modified CH-53

CH-53 Sea Stallion

The CH-53 Sea Stallion is the most common name for the Sikorsky S-65 family of heavy-lift transport helicopters. Originally developed for use by the United States Marine Corps, it is also in service with Germany, Iran, Israel, and Mexico...

 helicopter; this is not only due to the relatively large size and weight of the Nimrod missile, but because the CH-53 is a common delivery vehicle for Israeli special operations

Special operations

Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...

 teams. The launching vehicle or aircraft may fire up to 4 Nimrods at once from a single pack.

Versions

Currently two versions of Nimrod exist

Long Range, Dual Mode Missile – NIMROD 2 A dual mode Laser/GPS Homing missile, the Nimrod 2 has a range of 36KM and features a mobile launcher. The warhead is 14kg, and the missile can support various warheads for a variety of targets.

Long Range, Dual Mode Missile – NIMROD 3 A dual mode Laser/GPS Homing missile, the Nimrod 3 has a range of 10-50KM and can support various warheads for a wide range of targets. It also has a mobile launcher.

Characteristics

• Effective range: 300 - 36,000 meters
• Length: 265 cm
• Span 40 cm
• Weight: 96 kg
• Speed: ~2000 km/h
• Propulsion: single stage solid rocket motor
• Guidance: Semi-Active Laser Homing
• Warhead: HEAT, Fragmentation-HE, thermobaric
  Thermobaric weapon
  A thermobaric weapon, which includes the type known as a "fuel-air bomb", is an explosive weapon that produces a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than those produced by condensed explosives. This is useful in military applications where its longer duration increases the numbers of...
  
  

Comparable systems

• Spike NLOS
  Spike (missile)
  Spike is a fourth generation man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile with tandem-charged HEAT warhead, developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and in service with a number of nations....
  
  
• AGM-169 JCM

External links

• Nimrod at IAI official site
• Nimrod (Mikhol, Mikholit) missile at Jane's
• Nimrod 3 extended range at Deagel.com