RB 04


The RB-04 is a long-range fire-and-forget air-to-surface, anti-ship missile. The missile was known as the "RB-304" during development and early service years.
While interest in guided anti-ship missiles was subdued in the 1950s, it was not entirely extinct. In 1949, the Swedish government placed a request for a radar-guided, air-launched anti-ship missile. The request materialized as the SAAB "Robot-Byrån 04", which was first test launched by a Saab 29 Tunnan fighter in early 1955.
The early versions of the missile suffered teething problems in regards to the two targeting modes, which were area attack, for striking a big group of ships, and select targeting, where the missiles home in on a single vessel. In the area attack the missile would only target a ship in the group if they were within 1,000 meters of another vessel, this was also in the early electronic age, and changes in this distance required hardware modifications in a workshop.
Many components of the missile were reused when the RBS-15 was developed, including the main body and warhead, although the motor and main wings were the most obvious external changes.
The missile has never seen combat; the closest thing it has come to being used was during the "Whiskey on the Rocks" incident in 1981, when a Soviet submarine ran aground outside the naval station in Karlskrona. Swedish AJ37 Viggens with RB-04E's mounted under their wings, taken from top secret storage bunkers, stood on high alert for a possible Soviet incursion.
On one occasion, when a Soviet rescue operation seemed to be underway, aircraft were scrambled with the intent to intercept Soviet ships.