Ruhrstahl FX-1400 Fritz-X Guided Bomb
The Fritz-X was a 1400 kg (3,300 lb) armor-piercing bomb with control fins and a radio data link usually launched from Do 217 and He 177 bombers. This weapon was the first operational guided bomb and proved quite effective.
Released from an altitude of 16,000 to 20,000ft (4875 - 6095 m) the bomb reached a terminal velocity approaching sound. Half of the pre-production Fritz X bombs hit within a 197 in ( 5m square. ) III/KG 100, formed from Lehr und Erprobungskommano 21, was the first unit to use the Fritz-X. Equipped with Do 217K-2s each plane could carry two of the guided bombs on ETC 2000/XII racks.
On September 9, 1943 two hits scored on the Italian battleship Roma sent her to the bottom. The Italia, also part of this fleet sailing out to surrender to the Allies, was hit and severely damaged. A British battleship, the Warspite was knocked out of the war for a year when a single Fritz-X penetrated all six decks and blew a hole through the bottom. The new weapon also sank the cruiser Spartan and damaged the cruisers Savannah and Uganda. Aggressive fighter patrols and electronic jamming disrupted the control signals from the launch aircraft to the bomb. A total of 1,386 Fritz-X bombs were manufactured, 602 of these being expended in tests.
Designer office: Dr. Kramer's DVL (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt ftir Luft.fahrt)
Structure: special anti-armor steel of great thickness Tail unit: cruciform section strengthened by a twelve-sided perimeter. It had a two-axis guideable fin, actuated by Wagner electrical controls.
Powerplant: None in first versions. Several accelerator rockets of solid propellant were foreseen.
Equipment: Radio-link system Kehl/Strassburg (FuG203 and FuG230)
Warhead: 320 kg of Amatol
Length: 3.26 m (10 ft. 8 1/2 in.)
Span: (elevator) 1.35 m (4 ft. 5 in.)
Maximum diameter: 0.56 m (1 ft. 10 in.)
Launch weight: (unpropelled version) 1570 kg (3,454 lb.)
Maximum speed: 1035 km/h (630 MPH)
Range: 5 km (2.69 nm)
Number of units built: 1,386
