Lightning (missile)

The EM13a 'Lightning' is a portable infared-homing surface-to-air missile system built by Faneria. It is manufactured by the National Arms Foundry along with the FM13g 'Thunder', a license-built version of the Yonderrian MAS-12. The Lightning was originally designed in the 1990s, but was redesigned in the 2010s as the EM13a-2. It is designed to be fired with a bipod or on a vehicle mount, the latter of which comes in single, 4, and 6-missile variants, and is part of the Castle Program.

Design
The Lightning was originally conceived as an independent, infantry-borne MANPAD system for local air defense to compliment unit ATGM teams as part of full-spectrum armored and air defense. This was later rolled into the Castle Program, which rolled development of seaborne SHORAD capabilities into a single platform. As such, the Lightning was required to fill short-range air defense roles for both warships and ground forces, which inevitably made the system too large to carry by a single soldier as originally intended. While two men could carry a Lightning and bipod as a team, the system was moved from the 'light' anti-aircraft role into the 'medium' one in the Castle system, and would be designed with extensive use and intention to upgrade in mind.

Lightning-1 was first put into service in 1992 as a showpiece during the Vandarch Canal Crisis, where it was not fired once; however, the system was a well-received replacement to the 1974 'Spiderweb' and was later phased out in the 2010s for the Lightning-2, which updated the launcher hardware for each of its platforms, introduced updated targeting software, and allowed the missile to receive course corrections or through RADAR on the launching platform when fired from a vehicle to counter jamming systems. The Lightning-2 was redesigned in conjunction with the Cape and Kiravian firms, which necessitated an increase in launcher and missile length to extend the range of the missile significantly. While increasing the cost, this change improved the missile's chasing capability markedly.

Users

 * Anglei
 * the Cape
 * Faneria
 * Kiravia
 * Maloka
 * Yonderre – EM13a in service as "MAA-97" since 1997, EM13a-2 in service as "MAA-18" since 2018. Ammunition produced under license locally by Fabrique de Sainte-Catherine