MBDA Past Brimstone om Swarming Fast Attack Craft Target

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MBDA Tank-Killer Shifting to Sea Targets

PARIS — A Cold War missile designed to take out Soviet tank formations has taken a new step toward providing a possible solution to the threat of swarms of fast attack craft operated by the Iranians and others.

MBDA said Monday it had successfully destroyed three small vessels in a first salvo firing of the Brimstone Sea Spear variant from a fixed platform moored off the coast of Scotland.

Dual Mode Brimstone is normally fired by Royal Air Force Tornado strike aircraft to destroy land targets, often in complex environments, using either a semi-active laser or millimeter wave seekers (MMW).

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130619/SHOWSCOUT02/306190013/MBDA-Tank-Killer-Shifting-Sea-Targets

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MBDA'S BRIMSTONE Simultaneously Destroys Multiple Attack Craft In Salvo Firing

MBDA's combat proven, UK developed, Brimstone missile carried out the world's first surface to surface salvo engagement of multiple Fast In-shore Attack Craft (FIAC) threats with a single button push. The success of the trial has shown Brimstone's unrivalled ability to swiftly strike numerous individual vessels without the need to laboriously designate each target, thereby demonstrating its prowess as a fire and forget maritime surface attack weapon.

On the 29th May 2013, three millimetric wave operational Brimstone missiles were launched in a rapid salvo of less than a second against a simulated attack formation of five representative FIACs. The three missiles independently acquired and engaged their respective targets at a distance between 4km and 5km (constrained by range safety); direct hits resulted in extensive structural damage to the three leading vessels, including one travelling at around 20 knots. The missiles were launched from a surface trials platform using a Brimstone triple rail launcher in conditions of sea state 3.

This exceptional achievement follows on from a previously undisclosed, successful surface launch trial against a single static FIAC on the 6th April 2013. Instead of a warhead the missile carried a telemetry unit to transmit trials data. The missile acquired and identified the target with a subsequent direct hit on the vessel's control cabin, with the missile passing through the hull at the rear of the craft causing the target to sink.

The Brimstone programme is run by MBDA UK's team in Stevenage, Hertfordshire while both of these trials were carried out off the west coast of Scotland with range support provided by QinetiQ.

Brimstone is being proposed by MBDA UK as a surface attack missile for deployment within the Sea Spear system against FIACs and other small surface threats in all weather environments. As an effective maritime Force Protection capability, it rapidly provides significant utility beyond the range of medium calibre naval gun systems. With a range of deck-mounted launcher options, from single to six-pack configurations, the system's very small footprint gives it a high level of deck positioning flexibility making it suitable for small vessels such Fast Attack Craft as well as much larger vessels such as auxiliary ships.



http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1092

[Ace1]

PARIS — A missile used primarily to kill tanks could soon protect the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship from swarming fast attack craft.

MBDA Missile Systems has adapted the well known Brimstone missile to specifically target fast attack craft while being fired from a naval vessel, officials said Wednesday at the Paris Air Show.

On May 29, the company completed a test in which it fired three Brimstone Sea Spears hitting two static vessels and one vessel moving 20 knots near Scotland. Encouraged by the demonstration, MBDA is looking to market the naval weapon to countries such as the U.S. and U.K.

The U.K. already fires the Dual Mode Brimstone from their Tornados. The missile has received notoriety for its performance in Afghanistan and Libya. U.S. officials have shown interest in potentially firing them from the Reaper.

The Sea Spear is the first variant of the Brimstone designed to be fired from a naval vessel. The missile tracks the target with a millimeter waver seeker eliminating the potential of losing the target behind the crests of the waves.

MBDA designed it as a fire-and-forget missile that can eliminate swarming targets autonomously. It is a canister-launched missile that can be mounted to a building or a naval vessel as small as 14 meters.

Douglas Denneny, a vice president for MBDA based in Washington D.C., said the Sea Spear could protect the Navy's new LCS fleet from the fast attack boats driven by the Iranian navy.

Those interested in the Sea Spear won't have to wait. MBDA officials Frank Morgan and Mark Sheehan said the naval missile system is available immediately.

http://defensetech.org/2013/06/19/brimstone-adapted-to-target-swarming-fast-attack-craft/