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Spear: Air-to-surface missile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SPEAR is a family of air-launched effectors under development by MBDA UK for the Royal Air Force's Select Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) Capability 3, or SPEAR 3 programme, from which the system also derives its name. The SPEAR family currently consists of two variants; Spear, a 100kg class air-to-surface cruise missile, and Spear-EW, an electronic warfare variant for stand-in jamming or for use as a decoy.[8][9][10]
SPEAR 3 | |
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Type | Spear: Air-to-surface missile Spear-EW: Electronic warfare system |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Service history | |
Used by | See Users |
Production history | |
Designer | MBDA UK |
Manufacturer | MBDA UK |
Specifications | |
Mass | 220 lb (100 kg)[1][2] |
Length | 71 in (1,800 mm) |
Diameter | 7.1 in (180 mm) |
Engine | Turbojet engine[3] |
Operational range | 80 mi (130 km)[4][5][6] or 140 km [7] |
Guidance system | Millimeter wave Active radar homing / Semi-active laser guidance / Infrared homing (using an uncooled imaging infrared camera) / GPS coupled Inertial guidance / Data-link |
Steering system | Flight control surfaces |
Launch platform | Typhoon (in progress) F-35B (contracted) JAS39 Gripen (in progress) |
Spear is currently planned to be integrated on the F-35B Lightning as part of the Block 4 upgrade. It has been integrated onto the Eurofighter Typhoon for testing purposes, but it is unclear if formal integration will occur.[9][11] Models of Spear have also been shown next to those of Tempest as a possible future weapon for the platform.[12]
Spear had been planned to be operational in 2025.[13] However, in November 2021, Defence Procurement Minister Jeremy Quin told the House of Commons Select Defence Committee that full operating capability for SPEAR-3 on F-35 might not occur until 2028.[14]
One of the Select Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) programmes first mentions was in the 2005 Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) and was vaguely described as a munition "planned to address the capability requirement to be able to attack fast-moving targets at range" that was then in its concept phase. The DIS also highlighted the increased importance of precision-guided weaponry but also the importance of maintaining the UK's sovereign industrial base for the development for such systems. It discussed how the performance and safety aspects of weapon systems can only be guaranteed if the UK has access to and a complex understanding of a weapon system may not always be possible with systems imported from other nations such as the United States. This among other advantages of a sovereign complex weapons industry made maintaining this capability of high importance. As such, the DIS outlined planned efforts of rationalisation, government cooperation with industry, and consolidation to strengthen the UK's complex weapons capability.[15] By 2006, this had culminated in Team Complex Weapons, a relationship primarily between MBDA and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and supported by partners such as Thales, Roxel, and QinetiQ.[9][16]
By 2006, the SPEAR programme had begun evolving from a singular munition to now being portfolio of air-to-surface guided weapons programmes fulfilling five capabilities through either the upgrading of existing munitions, or the development new systems:[8][9]
The requirements for SPEAR 3 were identified initially from the RAFs experience during the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo with shortfalls in engaging mobile and manurable time-sensitive targets. By 2015, this had evolved to become a low-collateral weapon with high accuracy at all times and in all weather conditions whilst in theatres with restrictive rules of engagement and that had sufficient range to 'stand-off' outside the effective envelope of the latest integrated air defence systems.[17]
Initially, the SPEAR programme was kept outside of the Team Complex Weapons structure, which allowed for companies outside the team to submit offering for SPEAR 3. In 2008, Lockheed Martin offered the Surveilling Miniature Attack Cruise Missile (SMACM) but was not taken forward.[9][18] In the 2010s, Raytheon (Now RTX) offered the Small Diameter Bomb-II (SDB-II) unpowered glide bomb including the possibility licensed production at their UK facilities.[9] Meanwhile MBDA UK offered a new missile design utilising existing developments in weapons technologies such as for Brimstone and a turbojet engine to produce a miniature cruise missile. In 2010, MBDA was awarded a £150 million four-year assessment phase to further examine the development of this new weapon system.[8][9][19] In 2015, Raytheon considered developing a powered SDB-II variant with a turbojet, or alternatively, developing a weaponised variant of the ADM-160 MALD (Miniature Air-Launched Decoy) with both options as likely counters to MBDA's competing powered-weapon design.[20]
In March 2016, a Spear test missile was successfully launched from a Eurofighter Typhoon trials aircraft operated by BAE Systems at the QinetiQ Aberporth range in Wales. This test-firing was specifically to test the missile’s airframe, navigation and propulsion systems. The missile transitioned through separation from the aircraft to powered flight before completing a series of manoeuvres, ending in a terminal dive to the desired point of impact. The missile accurately followed the planned trajectory and was well within simulation predictions; all trial objectives were achieved.[11] In May 2016, MBDA's bid for SPEAR 3 program was fully solidified when the MoD awarded them a £411 million contract for the development of their air-launched SPEAR missile.[21]
In June 2022, it was revealed that the first live-firing of Spear had been delayed until 2023 due to 'technical considerations and programme complexity'.[22]
In July 2023, Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) data revealed that the Delivery Confidence Assessment had been downgraded from Amber to Red primarily resulting from “...challenges with resourcing sufficient suitably qualified and experienced people across the programme and delivery teams, and within industry”.[23]
On 6 September 2024, in response to a written question from MP for South Suffolk James Cartlidge, Maria Eagle the Minister of State for Defence outlined that Spear was now in the demonstration phase. This also came with the announcement that Spear's first live-firing would now take place later in 2024 and that the total financial investment in the programme stood at approximately £1.4 billion.[24]
Spear weighs less than 90 kg (198.4 lbs) with a length of 1.8m (70.8 in) and a diameter of 180mm (7.08 in).[25] The missile will feature a multimode seeker with INS/GPS guidance and datalink.[26] The missile is set to use the same Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 turbojet as the JSOW-ER and MALD combined with a folding wing kit, providing an engagement range in excess of 140 km (86.9 mi).[27][25] The fusing options and warhead are likely to be similar to that of 14 lb warhead of Brimstone.
Spear will be integrated with the F-35 Lightning's Block 4 software package and on the Eurofighter Typhoon around the mid-to-late 2020s.[28] Mock-ups for the UK's future sixth-generation fighter 'Tempest' being developed under the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) with Japan and Italy have been shown with Spear as part of the aircraft's possible future arsenal alongside the Future Cruise/Anti Ship Weapon(s) (FC/ASW).[12][29] MBDA has shown artwork of a four-missile launcher on a single Typhoon weapon station,[26] and four will fit with a Meteor air-to-air missile in each of the two internal weapons bays of the F-35B when in an air-to-surface configuration.[26][30] No images have yet been revealed of any external SPEAR 3 carriage capability for the F-35B with all current renderings and models showing only internally mounted weapons.
Networked swarm capability for SPEAR missiles is in development.[31] In 2023, MBDA announced that SPEAR 3 would be integrated into Orchestrike, MBDA's collaborative effector system utilising AI to allow multiple smart munitions to work in concert with one another.[32][33] At the Farnborough Airshow 2024, MBDA confirmed that the SPEAR product line would be the first to receive this capability.[34][35]
MBDA also proposed and was later awarded a technical demonstrator program contract for a SPEAR Electronic Warfare (SPEAR-EW) variant, a SEAD attack version for the RAF.[36][37][9][38] The fuel capacity would be enlarged and the warhead and seeker removed to accommodate an electronic warfare payload derived from Leonardo UK's BriteCloud countermeasure allowing SPEAR-EW to loiter in contested airspace and act as a stand-in jammer or in a decoy role similar to the ADM-160 MALD.[9][31][33][10] The UK had previously shown interest in the capabilities of MALD back in 2009 at the Paris Air Show.[39]
In September 2023, MBDA was awarded additional funds to fast-track the development of SPEAR-EW from the Ministry of Defence.[40] This suggests that the UK is looking to field SPEAR-EW operationally alongside SPEAR 3, although this has not be officially confirmed.
Concepts have also been shown for additional missile variants such as SPEAR Glide, an unpowered variant without the TJ-150 turbojet making it more analogous to the GBU-53; sacrificing speed, range and manoeuvrability for a larger warhead and possibly lower cost whilst still be able to be carried on the same weapon rail as other SPEAR variants by retaining the common airframe.[9][38] Another concept has been for a surface launched variant called the Common Anti-Surface Modular Missile (CAsMM) that could be quad-packed into the Mark 41 / Mark 57 or similar vertical launcher systems (Sylver) by utilising the same Extensible Launching System (EXLS) munitions adapter as the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM) family.[9]
Royal Air Force / Royal Navy - Scheduled to be fully operational on the F-35 by 2028.[14]
Italian Navy - On 15 July 2024, documentation published by the Italian Parliament outlined that the Italian Navy's 15 F-35Bs would be equipped with SPEAR 3.[41]
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