United Kingdom is investing £400 million ($561 million) to field an improved version of the Brimstone 2 air to ground precision strike m...
United Kingdom is investing £400 million ($561 million) to field an improved version of the Brimstone 2 air to ground precision strike missile.
A contract has been signed with MBDA to develop, manufacture and deliver the Capability Sustainment Program (CSP) variant dubbed Brimstone 3.
The new missile will arm Eurofighter Typhoon when it takes over as the RAF’s principal ground-attack aircraft in 2019, replacing the Tornado GR4.
The Brimstone 3 will replace all the earlier Brimstone variants in UK inventory from 2022 and is expected to stay relevant beyond 2030.
The new-build Brimstone missiles will incorporate all of the improved functionalities offered by the spiral upgrades of Brimstone that have taken place over recent years in order to meet UK operational requirements.
These include improved Dual Mode semi active laser (SAL)/millimetric wave (mmW) seeker, enhanced autopilot, and the new insensitive munition compliant rocket motor and warhead.
Laser guidance allows precision strike in cluttered environments, while the mmW radar ensures accuracy against moving targets. Pilot can select either mode from the cockpit or use both simultaneously.
The missile will also receive memory and processing update, improved batteries, essentially all obsolete components on Brimstone 2 will be replaced along with introducing enhancements.
Operational range will also increase by 20 percent. Brimstone 2 has an unofficial range of more than 60 km.
Brimstone CSP will deliver the baseline hardware standard that will be evolved through software enhancements which will result in a common stockpile of identical missiles for use on fast jets, attack helicopter and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
Brimstone CSP is also planned for integration with RAF’s new Protector RPAS and the British Army’s new AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in future.
Brimstone entered service with RAF Tornado GR4 in 2005. Each launcher carriers three missiles on rails.
Brimstone is currently in use by the UK’s Tornado squadrons in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Shader and has also been used on operations in Afghanistan and Libya.
