UK awards F-35 missile contract
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a £411 million contract to MBDA for developing a new missile for its F-35B future supersonic stealth aircraft, it announced on 18 May.
Work under the contract will take place at MBDA’s Stevenage, Bristol and Lostock sites. The company will develop Spear 3, a missile that is part of the same weapons family as Brimstone, which is currently used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Spear 3 is expected to have a wider range and greater destructive force than the Brimstone.
The MBDA contract covers four years of critical design and development for tailoring the Spear 3 for use in the F-35B’s internal weapons bay. Specifically, the missile will be designed for the F-35B Lightning II aircraft to be operated from the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers currently under construction for the navy.
Spear 3 features a turbojet engine instead of a conventional rocket motor, enabling a range of over 60 miles. It was test fired successfully from an RAF Typhoon aircraft at a range in West Wales in March 2016.
The contract comes after an £150 million initial assessment phase. If successful, the Spear 3 is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s.
Philip Dunne, Defence Minister, MoD, said: ‘This contract will give UK pilots a state-of-the-art British designed weapon to be used on board our next-generation F-35B jets, with the precision and punch that we need to give decisive operational advantage over our adversaries and keep Britain safe.’
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