These included eradicating the function from the RAF Regiment as a measure to preserve Royal Artillery models in the face of significant cuts to the Army. 63 Squadron RAF Regiment, which had been the first unit outfitted with the Rapier system, was deployed to San Carlos Bay on 1 June. FSC was successfully a brand new system, although Blindfire was little changed and vapemight it could fireplace both Mk 1 and Mk 2 missiles. The United States ordered 32 Rapier launchers with Blindfire radars in 1981 for air defence of USAFE airbases in the UK.

Targets are acquired visually or by means of the Dagger radar, and then the Blindfire and optical tracker are slewed onto the target. In actuality just one aircraft, a Dagger A of FAA Grupo 6, shot down on 29 May, will be definitively attributed to a Rapier missile. The primary identified use of a Rapier in fight was in December 1974 through the Second Iraqi-Kurdish War when it shot down an Ilyushin Il-76MD belonging to the Iraqi Air Force.

Turkish Air Force - 86 launchers, modernized in Turkey. In April 1982, the unique Rapier system was deployed throughout the Falklands War, when T Battery of the 12th Regiment Royal Artillery joined 3 Commando Brigade as a part of the Falklands Task Force. The first manufacturing Tracked Rapier was accepted on time and to price at Wellington Barracks in early 1981, and vapemight entered service with 11 (Sphinx) Air Defence Battery, of 22 Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1983 in Napier Barracks close to Dortmund.

A Mark 2 missile variant commenced improvement in 1986 culminating in an entire re-design which entered service within the mid-1990s. Tracked Rapier was retired within the early nineteen nineties, resulting from manning limitations when the Towed FSC version entered service. Emerging as "Rapier 2000", or "Field Standard C" (FSC) in British service, the system reached its final type. In operation, the Rapier 2000 is just like earlier Blindfire-outfitted systems.

Rapier programs had been positioned at 4 sites: (Blackheath Common; William Girling Reservoir in Enfield; Oxleas Meadow, vapetoward   Shooter's Hill; and vapeduring Barn Hill in Epping Forest), with Starstreak missiles at two other sites. Gibson, William. "The Red Queen and the Vigilante".

Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, vapesingle Ramjets and Missiles. McNally, Tony (2007). Watching Men Burn: A Soldier's Story.

The optical system may also be used as a search system, in search of out IR sources, allowing radar-quiet operation. The tracker was operated from the right aspect of the crew cabin, while on the left have been the driver and tactical controller who also had a helmet-mounted sight, allowing him to put the tracker onto a visible goal. The entire system and its crew are delivered by two Land Rovers designated the Fire Unit Truck (FUT) and the Detachment Support Vehicle (DSV).

The optical system can be used solely to track the missile, or it can be utilized for all guidance, vapeamong like the unique Rapier. The unique Rapier took the form of a two-wheeled launcher carrying 4 missiles, an optical tracker unit, a generator, and a trailer of reserve missiles.