The aircraft that used these missiles were the Blackburn Buccaneer (up to three TV or four ARM variant), the SEPECAT Jaguar (two), the Mirage III/F1 (one or two), and the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod (at least one).

It weighs three times as much as the AGM-45 Shrike, with half the speed but much greater range and explosive power.

It was an improvement compared to the early AGM-78 Standard ARM missiles, that had only one narrow-band homing sensor.

But the ARM sensor was only selectable on the ground, not in flight and so before taking-off it was necessary to know what kind of radar was being attacked.

[5] On 7 March, following an air raid by Libyan MiG-21s and MiG-23s, another strike was mounted by ten Martel-equipped Jaguars from EC 4/11 (or more likely EC 3/3 "Ardennes" as that unit was the Martel specialist) against the radar installations at Ouadi Doum air base.