Sea Dart, also called GWS-30, is a British ship-launched surface-to-air missile with surface-to-surface capability. It was formerly used aboard the single Type 82 destroyer, and continues to be used aboard the Type 42 destroyers. It was also used aboard the Invincible class aircraft carriers, though it was removed in the late 1990s to make room for more aircraft.
The missile itself is 4.4 meters long and weighs 550 kilograms fully fueled. It is powered initially by a Chow rocket booster, which is jettisoned shortly after launch. At this point, a kerosene-fueled ramjet starts up and powers the missile for the rest of its flight. Like the US-built Standard missile series, it steers using tail control. Guidance is by semi-active radar homing with illumination from launch to impact.
The missile has seen combat service in the Falklands war and the 1991 Gulf war. In the former, Sea Dart missiles were used to destroy high-flying bombers and reconnaissance planes, effectively denying higher altitudes to the Argentine forces. They were rather less effective against low-flying targets, a problem which prompted a number of improvements during the 1980s. HMS Invincible fired six Sea Dart missiles at the Exocet SSM that sunk the MV Atlantic Conveyor, but did not succeed in destroying the missile. During the Gulf War, HMS Gloucester successfully engaged an Iraqi Silkworm SSM that had been fired at the US battleship USS Missouri, the only confirmed engagement of an SSM by a SAM in combat conditions.*
*There are two other possible cases of an SSM being downed in combat conditions: A RIM-8 Talos fired by USS Long Beach may have shot down an SS-N-2C Styx during the Vietnam war, and a 114mm shell fired by HMS Avenger may have shot down an AM38 Exocet during the Falklands war. Neither engagement can be confirmed, however.