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Wham, bam, goodbye SAM. F35 new anti-air defence missile successfully tested
18 November 2024
For the first time the tank-busting Spear 3 cruise missile – a key weapon in the future armoury of the UK’s aircraft carriers – has been successfully fired on the test range.
In service, it will be the principal weapon used by F-35B pilots to knock out enemy ground-based air defences, such as surface-to-air missile batteries and flak positions.
A trials variant of Spear 3 – minus a warhead – was launched from a Typhoon fighter high above a range at Vidsel, inside the Arctic Circle in Sweden.
Once released, the missile’s turbojet kicked in and Spear 3 – one third of the size of the only cruise missile operated by the Royal Navy at present, Tomahawk – autonomously navigated its route to its target via predefined waypoints, using its advanced all-weather radar seeker to map the target area and acquire its target, and then use seeker radiofrequency imagery to successfully engage it.
Designed to take out mobile, manoeuvrable enemies, Spear 3 can also be employed against enemy armour.
When in service, each F-35B jet will be able to carry up to eight Spear 3s – turbojet-powered miniature cruise missiles – providing the next generation of stand-off air-to-surface missiles for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences missions in challenging and complex operating environments.
This trial was a key step on the way to delivering Spear 3 to the UK frontline, where it will provide a new capability to defeat the most complex air defence systems, enabling pilots to fly and fight wherever they’re needed in defence of the UK and its allies.
Each missile has a range in excess of 100km (more than 60 miles), closing on its target using GPS-aided navigation and engaging it with a combination of laser, radar or GPS-aided guidance.
A BAE-operated Typhoon – the production variant in service with the RAF will not be equipped with Spear 3 – was used for the maiden firing which was the first in a series of trials involving the MBDA-designed weapon.
“This trial was a key step on the way to delivering Spear 3 to the UK frontline, where it will provide a new capability to defeat the most complex air defence systems, enabling pilots to fly and fight wherever they’re needed in defence of the UK and its allies,” said Matthew Brown, team leader on the programme at DE&S.
Developed in the UK, work on the new missile supports several hundred jobs in MBDA’s 5,500-strong UK workforce.