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Home / Equipment / Portable air defence / Blowpipe (missile)

Portable air defence1975–presentProfile in progress

Blowpipe (missile)

Man-portable air-defense systems

Blowpipe (missile) is a man-portable air-defense systems originating in United Kingdom. It was built by Short Brothers.

Origin: United Kingdom
Manufacturer: Short Brothers

Length: 1.35m
Mass: 22kgcomplete system
Range: 0.5–3.5kmEffective
Crew: 1
Diameter: 76mm

Specifications Scale Operators Methodology

Technical data

Specifications

15 fields · 1 source · retrieved 1 Oct 2026

Dimensions & mass

Mass: 14.5 kg (32 lb) (missile in launch tube) 22 kg (49 lb) (complete system) 6.2 kg (14 lb) (launcher)¹
Length: 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in)¹

True scale

Size in context

Length: 1.35 m
Person: 1.75 m

Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.

Diameter

76 mm (3.0 in)¹

Warhead weight

2.2 kg (4.9 lb)¹

Performance

Crew: 1¹
Effective firing range: 0.5 to 3.5 km (0.31 to 2.17 mi)¹
Maximum speed: Mach 1.5¹

Systems & armament

Warhead: Shaped charge¹
Engine: Solid rocket motor¹
Guidance system: MCLOS system¹

Programme

Wars: Falklands War Soviet–Afghan War Gulf War Cenepa War¹
Designer: Short Brothers¹
Designed: 1975¹
Produced: 1975 to 1993¹
No. built: 34,382¹

Sources & original excerpts1 reference

Blowpipe (missile) · Wikipedia revision 1320589708 ↗
Type
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Type
Man-portable air-defense systems
Place of origin
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Place of origin
United Kingdom
In service
Infobox (Blowpipe) · In service
1975–present
Used by
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Used by
See Operators
Wars
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Wars
Falklands War Soviet–Afghan War Gulf War Cenepa War
Designer
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Designer
Short Brothers
Designed
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Designed
1975
Manufacturer
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Manufacturer
Short Brothers
Produced
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Produced
1975 to 1993
No. built
Infobox (Blowpipe) · No. built
34,382
Mass
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Mass
14.5 kg (32 lb) (missile in launch tube) 22 kg (49 lb) (complete system) 6.2 kg (14 lb) (launcher)
Length
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Length
1.35 m (4 ft 5 in)
Diameter
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Diameter
76 mm (3.0 in)
Crew
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Crew
1
Effective firing range
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Effective firing range
0.5 to 3.5 km (0.31 to 2.17 mi)
Warhead
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Warhead
Shaped charge
Warhead weight
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Warhead weight
2.2 kg (4.9 lb)
Engine
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Engine
Solid rocket motor
Maximum speed
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Maximum speed
Mach 1.5
Guidance system
Infobox (Blowpipe) · Guidance system
MCLOS system

Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Operator countries

5 countries documented

Blowpipe (missile) equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.

Ecuador
Guatemala
Nigeria
Oman
Qatar

Additional operator references

Ecuador, Guatemala, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar

Equipment reference ↗

Compare related systems

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