Defense Technology International - September 2007 - (Page 44) WEAPONS ANTI-ARMOR €66.5-million contract at the end of 2006. This covers the acquisition of training and combat missiles for delivery to the army between 2008 and 2011. With this order, France commits to basing its short-range antitank operational capability up to 2020 on the Eryx missile, which entered service in 1993. MBDA is delivering its unique Brimstone missile to the Royal Air Force. Brimstone entered service in March 2005 with the RAF’s 31 Sqdn., members of which also participated in trials. Full operational capability was declared in December 2005, and the weapon is being tested for suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses. The autonomous millimeter-wave seeker has also been tested against small boat targets. The success of Hellfire in the U.S. has meant trouble for its replacement. After several years in limbo—with the Pentagon recommending cancellation and Congress supporting the program—the Lockheed Martin AGM-169 Joint Common Missile (JCM) was shelved in May. The problem was that support for JCM was wide but not deep. Users are largely satisfied with Hellfires—and Hellfire has been integrated on such a wide range of platforms, from Navy MH-60S helicopters to Predator and Reaper UAVs and attack helicopters, that the task of qualifying all of them for a new General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper is a new platform for the Hellfire missile. weapon would be daunting. Hellfire is also in service with three warheads—anti-tank (AGM-114K), blastfragmentation (AGM-114M) and metalaugmented charge (AGM-114N)—and with a radar seeker, as the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire. Raytheon has proposed a less costly weapon called Precision Attack Air to Surface Missile (Paasm), with a tri-mode seeker that combines technologies developed under funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with components from other weapons. Paasm shares some technology with Future Combat Systems components, and unlike JCM, is intended as a straightforward Hellfire replacement, without a strong emphasis on fast-jet launch. Outside the U.S. and Europe, Rafael’s Spike missile family is the export leader. G ENERAL ATOMICS/ASI E i w Avio. Propulsion in the sea. Driving force and automation, power and intelligence. Avio is Innovation and Experience. These values, combined with a primary focus on customer needs, lead us in designing, manufacturing and maintaining the aero-derivative turbine propulsion systems that power hundreds of the world’s fastest, most modern ships. Avio designs and supplies modern automated steering systems for surface vessels and submarines, which make control and manoeuvre operations simple and safe. This mix of know-how and product is the result of over 90 years of experience in a highly competitive market. Avio. Strong propulsion for the future of the sea. MBDA CONCEPT www.aviogroup.it 44 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2007 1 www.aviationweek.com/dti 30-08-2006 11:42:34 w 282AvioSea178x121.indd � Page PB 3/5/07 491046795 2:43 PM CMYK Pa http://www.aviogroup.it http://www.aviogroup.it http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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