The Brimstone 2 air-to-ground missile has entered service with the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Tornado GR4 strike aircraft, MBDA announced on 13 July at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow.
It was also announced that the first ever firings of the Brimstone missile from a Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter were conducted in June and that the missile had completed its initial carriage trials on the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Brimstone 2 is the latest iteration of the Brimstone family, which also includes the original Brimstone and Dual-Mode Brimstone. The new missile sees the introduction of insensitive munition (IM) compliance and enhancements to the missile’s seeker. In order to receive IM compliance, Brimstone 2 features a new Roxel rocket motor and a new TDW warhead that features an electronic safe arm fuzing device. The airframe housing of the missile is also new, which will mean “Brimstone 2 provides a step-change in environmental robustness” and that “increases the number of air carriage hours” each missile has, according to Adrian Monks, head of short range surface attack at MBDA.
The missile’s dual mode (semi-active laser and millimetric wave – mmW) seeker also has a “number of hardware and software changes”, Monks added. With an enhanced autopilot the Brimstone 2 “significantly increases the weapon’s envelope off-axis and maximum range” according to MBDA.
MBDA’s announcement of the completion of its first firing trials of Brimstone from an Apache is also a significant step forwards for the missile. These were undertaken in June at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, United States, and were conducted on a Boeing-owned AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopter – a contract for 50 of which for the British Army was signed on 11 July at Farnborough.
Brimstone on Apache is a further evolution of the missile and is being marketed by MBDA as the Future Attack Helicopter Weapon (FAHW).
IHS Jane’s 360: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly – Digital, Online and Print Magazine
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Recommended article from FiveFilters.org: Most Labour MPs in the UK Are Revolting.
from DefenseNewz.com http://ift.tt/29UZ7Yk
via Defense News
No comments: