Bang ! on Target
In this part II of Vayu’s visit to MBDA in Europe, Angad Singh covers munitions more relevant to the Army and Air Force, including third generation helicopter- fired precision missiles being evaluated by the Indian Army. Of immediate relevance is the ASRAAM proposal to equip the IAF’s Jaguar fleet, while the unique Meteor BVRAAM represents future capabilities.
In October 2013, Vayu visited missile manufacturer MBDA’s facilities in Europe, to be briefed on a wide range of MBDA products that are either actively on offer to India or are relevant to the Indian market in the future. First of two reports on the trip, published last issue, covered MBDA’s maritime products. This second part covers munitions more relevant to the Army and Air Force.
We start once again from Schrobenhausen, where MBDA Germany builds the PARS 3 LR anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) and Taurus KEPD 350 air- launched cruise missile (ALCM). Far from shying away from collaboration, both programmes involve industrial partners on a large scale - the PARS 3 LR being produced in collaboration with Diehl BGT Defence and the Taurus KEPD 350 ALCM in collaboration with Saab Bofors Dynamics. With both products currently only on offer for Indian Air Force requirements - PARS 3 LR for the HAL Rudra and Taurus for the long-range stand-off strike missile requirement – it is important to note that MBDA’s track record in cooperating with partners, be they private or state-controlled, bodes well for their future in India, where offsets via local industrial participation are becoming all-important.
PARS 3 LR
PARS3LR ( 3rd generation missile / Long-Range) is main armament for the Eurocopter Tiger helicopter ordered by the German Army, enabling the platform to achieve its required operational performance. It is a high-precision fireand- forget weapon capable of engaging armoured targets, mobile or stationary, such as armoured personnel carriers, battle tanks, field fortresses, bunkers and other high-value targets. The high-technology seeker head enables unambiguous target identification and designation at ranges up to 7,000 metres.
The day-night, all-weather, fire-and-forget system allows the helicopter to “shoot and scoot” – to manoeuvre away immediately after firing a missile, thereby exposing itself to danger only as long as necessary to acquire and engage a target. The infrared seeker in the missile locks on to the target before firing (lock-on before launch) using targeting data from the optical system integrated into the launch platform, which in case of the Tiger helicopter is a mast-mounted sight, but in case of the HAL Rudra or LCH, is nose-mounted. The missile guides itself to the target autonomously, requiring no further input or control from the launch platform.
The tandem shaped-charge warhead, which has been extensively tested, allows the engagement of a wide variety of targets, including armoured vehicles equipped with reactive armour, as most new-generation battle tanks are.
On 30 June 2006, Germany’s Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement ( BWB), MBDA Deutschland and Diehl BGT Defence signed a procurement contract for 680 PARS 3 LR ATGMs. Deliveries began in 2013 following extensive testing with the German Army Tiger helicopters.
So far, only one nation – Germany – operates the PARS 3 LR, but that may change soon. MBDA has had a longstanding relationship with Indian DPSU Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), with the latter producing the Milan 1, 2 and 2T variants of MBDA’s previous-generation ATGM for the Indian Army. It is this time-tested partnership that MBDA hopes will hold it in good stead with the PARS 3LR missile under evaluation as one of the contenders for arming the HAL Rudra (ALH-WSI) armed helicopter. While field evaluation trials were conducted in Sweden in 2012, a final decision from the MoD and the Army is still awaited. HAL had handed over the first Rudra helicopter to the Army at Aero India 2013 (see Vayu II/2013).
Walter Stammler, Vice- president Operations at MBDA Germany, said that all service requirements were met during the trials in Sweden and that the missile was “ideally suited” to the HAL Rudra. In fact, to meet Indian requirements, MBDA has already gone ahead and designed and built a prototype twin-tube launcher in collaboration with an Indian SME. Four such launchers can be fitted on the Rudra, and the prototype was shown to HAL officials following the field trials.
Should the PARS 3 LR succeed in equipping Indian Army Rudras, the offset obligations of the contract and MBDA’s existing partnership with BDL would see the missile ideally placed to go on to equip LCH as well as any suitable helicopter platforms operated by the Indian Air Force, the benefit to the MoD being the ability to standardise on a single ATGM type, streamlining acquisition and inventory. Additionally, MBDA has also signalled willingness to partner with Indian DPSUs or private firms to provide transfer of technology as well as to co-develop future systems.
Taurus KEPD 350
The Taurus KEPD 350 (Kinetic Energy Penetrator- Destroyer) weapon system programme commenced in 1998 with the pooling of the precision stand-off guided missile systems industrial capabilities of MBDA Deutschland with those of Saab Bofors Dynamics. A joint venture company, Taurus Systems GmbH, was established in Schrobenhausen and is responsible for the development, production, marketing and support of the KEPD 350 weapon system.
Today, the Taurus KEPD 350 is deployed on German Luftwaffe Tornado IDS strike fighters and Spanish Air Force EF-18 Hornet aircraft, and has also been selected as the stand- off weapon for NATO Reaction Forces. Additionally, both Spain and Germany are planning future integration of the missile with their respective Eurofighter fleets. More recently, the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) has selected the missile to equip its Boeing F-15K Slam Eagle fighter fleet. Apart from these, the KEPD 350 can be integrated onto a variety of different aircraft, as demonstrated by a number of captive-carry flights carried out with Saab JAS 39 Gripen aircraft.
With a proven weapon and significant sales successes, MBDA has offered the Taurus KEPD 350 to the Indian MoD to meet the Indian Air Force requirement for an air-launched stand-off missile. The missile will likely be integrated with the Sukhoi Su-30MKI in IAF service, and as a related offer MBDA has proposed triservices modifications to the missile, making them suitable for surface-to-surface use by the Army or maritime strike by the Navy.
In its present configuration, the modular all-weather stand-off KEPD 350 is stealthy, accurate and lethal, particularly against hardened targets but is also equally effective against area targets. The KEPD 350 is designed to operate in dense air-defence environments and neutralise high- value stationary and quasi- stationary targets,
including air- defence assets themselves. Its accuracy and stand-off range capability ensures effective weapon delivery while minimising threat to the launch platform and crew.
The Taurus KEPD 350 uses ‘Tri-Tec’ navigation, with an inertial navigation unit as its core resulting in exceptional accuracy. The ‘Tri-Tec’ array of sensors allows the weapon system to utilise various combinations of three sensor inputs – GPS, terrain profile and infrared image information – to enhance accuracy and survivability.
The accuracy of the missile’s guidance system on its extremely low-level (‘nap-of-the-earth’) flight requires a highly agile and manoeuvrable missile. To facilitate this, the Taurus KEPD 350 missile is equipped with a powerful Williams P830015 turbofan engine, allowing for high cruise speed at low level. Combined with the guidance system, this makes for quick and agile manoeuvres ensuring the missile stays precisely on the planned flight path. Survivability of the KEPD 350 is based on low observability and terrain masking, making manoeuvrability and guidance crucial characteristics of the missile.
The Taurus KEPD 350’ s airframe structure has been designed around the heart of the weapon- the Multi-Effect Penetrator, High Sophisticated and Target Optimised (MEPHISTO) warhead, which provides the all-important penetration capability required of modern stand- off missile systems. MEPHISTO employs a unique intelligent fuse, which is programmable and allows the detonation of the penetrator to be pre-selected for a given level, deep within the target structure. This is achieved through layer counting and void sensing technology, ensuring the warhead enters far enough into a target for the detonation to cause maximum damage.
Beyond the missile itself, the Mission Planning System optimises the flight path taking the entire threat scenario for a particular theatre into account. It is designed to avoid the line-of-sight of all radars as far as possible but should this prove unreasonable due to the density of air-defence systems, the low-observability features ( stealth shaping and low- level flight) are utilised. Additionally, the Mission Planning System plans a missile trajectory that orients the missile relative to threat radars in a manner that presents the lowest possible radar cross section.
Back to Lostock, the epicentre for MBDA’s activities centring on the ASRAAM, Meteor and Brimstone product lines and their derivatives. The ASRAAM proposal to equip the IAF Jaguar fleet is at an advanced stage and has been widely reported on, and while no specific requirement for the Meteor or Brimstone exist as yet, MBDA is quietly confident that the sheer quality of these products could help them find a place in the future Indian Air Force inventory.
Brimstone
The basic Brimstone and it’s newer dual-mode seeker variant have been covered in comprehensive detail previously ( Things that go ‘Bang’ ! Vayu VI/2013) but there are developments on the horizon that could result in extremely accurate, costeffective munitions that are of tremendous relevance in the Indian subcontinent. The Brimstone family began in November 1996 as a lightweight 50 kg fire-and-forget missile intended for anti-armour use by the Royal Air Force. By 2008, the dual-mode Brimstone (DMB) had entered operational service, adding semi-active laser homing (SALH) guidance to the existing millimetre-wave radar (mmW) seeker.
The dual-mode variant is a precision strike low collateral damage weapon with man-in-the-loop capability and is able to defeat a wide range of static and fast moving targets whilst operating within restrictive rules of engagement (RoE).
Dual-mode Brimstone has been used extensively and successfully through major 21st- century conflicts such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. The missile’s performance, particularly its accuracy, has attracted the interest of a large number of air forces around the world. In fact, then Indian Air Force Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, was personally briefed on Brimstone performance in Libya by his British counterpart, following the conclusion of the RAF’s Operation Ellamy in that country.
SPEAR
Brimstone has had a successful development trajectory, with both the initial and current dual-mode variants being highly praised for their efficiency in combat. Owing to this, and with one eye fixed firmly on the future, MBDA has plans for further development of the missile, this third iteration aimed at marrying a massive increase in range to the already-demonstrated accuracy of the weapon.
Dubbed SPEAR – for ‘ Selective Precision Effects At Range,’– the new development will see a set of fold-out wings added atop the missile airframe, along with a new engine, resulting in a high subsonic stand-off range weapon in the 100+ km class. While the weapon will be operated by a multitude of aircraft, focus is undeniably on the F-35, with MBDA expecting to be able to fit four SPEAR missiles and one Meteor BVRAAM within each of the F-35’s weapons bays.
The missile is still in the design stage but certain details are being firmed already, such as the length, which will remain
a compact 1.8- 2 metres. Retaining the proven DMB seeker technology is a given, but a unique new innovation is the ‘diala- yield’ multi- effect warhead, allowing operators to pre- select warhead power depending on missions.
While the UK MoD funds the SPEAR project, MBDA is cognizant of export requirements as well: for example longer or shorter range versions may be offered to customers for whom airframe dimensions are not of particular concern ( ie: non-stealth aircraft operators). The missile was first shown as a full-scale mock-up at the Farnborough Air Show in 2012, and development has continued at a rapid pace since then, with an airframe and propulsion system demonstration using a representative weapon design planned by the end of 2014.
ASRAAM
Arguably one of MBDA’s premier inservice air-to-air weapons is the ASRAAM. The programme was born out of a need to produce a single missile that could engage targets from point-blank out to BVR ranges, beyond which longer-range missiles such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM would take over as ‘pure’ BVRAAMs. Notably, the ASRAAM was among the last ‘ UK- only’ defence programmes, with almost all MBDA projects today being collaborative efforts across nations and companies.
ASRAAM uses ‘lifting body’ technology that combines thrust and airframe attitude to maintain flight, eliminating the need for large fins and thereby reducing overall drag. It has four small fins at the very rear of the missile body for stability and steering only. Additionally, the detection hardware is not part of the seeker head, allowing for a small nose that only has to accommodate an aperture for the seeker optics while the detection hardware is located elsewhere within the missile, dramatically improving the missile’s aerodynamics. The seeker itself is an imaging infra- red, 128×128 element focal plane array, with lock-on after launch (LOAL) capability, allowing it to detect and engage targets over 90° off the centreline of the launch aircraft (‘offboresight’ engagement).
Compared with the other major Western close-combat missile, the AIM-9 Sidewinder, the ASRAAM has more propellant and a larger, smokeless rocket motor which endow it with far superior kinetic qualities resulting in a much larger ‘no-escape zone’ (NEZ) – the arc within which an engaged aircraft cannot outrun a chasing missile. The missile’s high impulse at launch results in excellent ‘off the rail’ characteristics, facilitating quicker engagements at short range, effective offboresight tactics and the lack of smoke improves combat efficiency of the pilot and does not affect the engine(s) of the launch platform.
At present, the ASRAAM is the longestranged and fastest (Mach 3+) within visual range (WVR) missile in service worldwide. It is used on all UK RAF Tornados
and Typhoons and can be cleared for integration on all variants of the F-35 as well. Additionally, it was used on British Harriers prior to the retirement of the type. Outside of the UK, the Royal Australian Air Force uses the ASRAAM on their F/A-18 Hornets. Other aircraft cleared to use the ASRAAM, but not currently in service with the missile, include the F-16 and Jaguar (the latter tested and cleared by MBDA exclusively for the Indian Air Force).
The Jaguar is unique among contemporary operational fighters in that its air-to-air missiles are carried on a pylon above the wing, rather than slung below, as is the case with all other combat aircraft. Considering the aircraft’s primary role as a strike platform, this enables the underwing and fuselage pylons to be devoted solely to the carriage of air-to-ground ordnance and fuel, without robbing the Jaguar of the ability to defend itself against airborne threats. However, the overwing pylon presents unique challenges for missile integration given that most missiles are attached the other way round ! Additionally, location of the pylon makes the engine intakes and pilot’s field of view particularly susceptible to the ill effects of efflux from missile exhausts.
This is precisely why MBDA is confident that ASRAAM is the ideal all-aspect missile for the Jaguar – the impulse at launch clears the missile from the pylon, and indeed the vicinity of the aircraft, with immense rapidity, and the smokeless combustion affects neither pilot visibility nor engine performance or safety. Additionally, the missile’s performance characteristics, specifically it’s high off-boresight capability, long range and large NEZ, mean that the Jaguar is in no way at a disadvantage in a dogfight simply because it is restricted to a single missile type, unlike most other fighters that can be equipped with both BVRAAMs and SRAAMs/ CCMs. Moreover, because the IAF Jaguars have been upgraded through their service lives, incorporating contemporary technology such as helmet-mounted targeting systems, the aircraft, despite its age, is well placed to integrate and operate current-generation missiles such as ASRAAM.
ASRAAM integration, captive- carry flight trials and live- fire testing have all been conducted with the Jaguar, using both ex- RAF aircraft as well as active
Indian Air Force aircraft at the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) based in Bangalore. Sources from both MBDA and the Indian Air Force report positive impressions from these tests. In fact, during one of the live- fire trials, a test pilot thought that the missile had ‘ hung’ on the pylon ( failed to fire) because he hadn’t seen it launch – it turned out that the missile’s speed and lack of smoke plume meant he had simply missed it as it left the wing !
With the Jaguar slated to continue in IAF service for decades more, and its place in the IAF order of battle remaining highly significant even today, the importance of arming this strike platform with the ability to tackle airborne threats is crucial.
Meteor
If the ASRAAM is the premier contemporary air-to-air missile built by MBDA, then the future surely belongs to the Meteor. The Meteor is a six-nation partnership to built an uncompromising beyond visual range air-to-air missile for the 21st century. The programme involves industrial input from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Spain, and is headed up by a Joint Project Office located in the UK.
The Meteor is unique in that it is propelled by a combination of rocket and ramjet thrust – called a throttleable ducted rocket (TDR). TDR propulsion provides long range, a high average speed (Mach 4+), a wide operational envelope from sea level to high altitude, a flexible mission envelope via active thrust control, relatively simple design, and logistics similar to those of conventional solid rocket motors.
At launch, a rocket ignites to provide initial acceleration up to ramjet speed. At this stage, the missile behaves like a conventional rocket, and the distinctive underbody intakes remain closed. However, once the rocket reaches sufficient speed for ramjet operation, the intakes open and the now-empty casing of the rocket motor behaves as a combustion chamber for the ramjet propulsion system. The throttleable motor allows for long range, adjusting to engagements in order to maximise kill-probability.
The ramjet portion of the missile has been the focus area for development efforts, as this is the part that is crucial to the missile’s performance. Regulating combustion and ensuring ideal flow conditions through the intakes is tremendously challenging. In fact, this affects missile control as well: while most missiles use ‘ skid to turn’ steering, where rear-mounted fins ‘throw’ the airframe into a turn, Meteor steers almost like an aircraft, banking into turns so as to ensure airflow through the ramjet is not disrupted.
Additionally, since the missile uses a combined rocket and ramjet, it has no ‘peak’ speed as most conventional rocket-powered
missiles do : it accelerates from launch and then sustains a consistent speed through ramjet combustion. Like the ASRAAM, the Meteor has an enormous no-escape zone, largely as a result of its unique propulsion system.
The seeker draws from existing technology used in the MICA and ASTER programmes, combining MBDA and Thales knowhow from their 4A active anti- air seeker project. It uses a data-linked inertial guidance system coupled with active radar homing in the terminal phase, resulting in high levels of accuracy as well as flexibility throughout the engagement as a result of the datalink.
All this translates to shorter engagements with lower ‘time to kill,’ longer effective range, better target discrimination, improved situational awareness (via datalink), and combat flexibility through third- party targeting such as a networked fighter or AEW&C aircraft. The seeker technology and one-of-a-kind engine guard against early obsolescence and make the Meteor an ideal missile to replace stocks of ageing BVR missiles around the world.
The Meteor will be operational first with the Swedish Air Force on the JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter by the end of 2014, followed shortly by France with the Rafale
Additionally, since the missile uses a combined rocket and ramjet, it has no “peak” speed as most conventional rocketpowered missiles do – it accelerates from launch and then sustains a consistent speed through ramjet combustion.
C, B and M. The other partner nations will operate the missile from the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the UK and Italy will also use them to equip their F-35s.
Should the M-MRCA contract for 126 Rafale fighters be signed, the Meteor will almost certainly be included in the weapons package, but interestingly, reports suggest that the Indian Air Force is also interested in acquiring the missile to equip its Su-30MKI fighters, which are of Russian origin.
Whichever aircraft bearing saffron, white and green roundels eventually carries the missile, there is no question that it has all the potential to dramatically alter the air superiority equation in South Asia.
MBDA is a European defence organisation backed by three major aeronautical and defence shareholders - BAE Systems (37.5%), EADS (37.5%) and Finmeccanica (25%). The company was created in 2001 after the merger of the leading missile manufacturers of France, Italy and the UK, and reached its present structure with the acquisition of the German subsidiary EADS/LFK in March 2006.
The firm combines a large portfolio of operational products with a strong focus on R&D to develop products across the land, sea and air domains, and currently works with over 90 armed forces worldwide, including a number of strategic multi-national programmes, such as the six-nation Meteor BVRAAM, the Franco-British stand-off cruise missile, Storm Shadow/SCALP, and a family of air defence systems based on the Aster missile that is in service with France, Italy and the UK.