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Categories: Air-to-surface missiles | Anti-tank missiles | Modern weapons | Weapons of the United Kingdom
Brimstone missile
The Brimstone missile is an advanced Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) developed by MBDA.
The missile is a development of Boeing's AGM-114 Hellfire is designed to meet the RAF's requirement for a long range anti-armour weapon, allowing strike aircraft to attack tanks and armoured vehicles at stand-off range, replacing the RBL 755 cluster bomb. This requirement was issued following an assessment of the British military's performance in the Gulf War. GEC (whose missile interests now form part of MBDA) was originally awarded the contract on November 7 1996. Boeing is the primary sub-contractor.
Brimstone is an extremely lethal system, it is a "fire and forget" weapon and can be programmed to adapt to a particular mission. For example it can be programmed to seek targets beyond a certain point (i.e. overfly friendly forces) and not to seek targets beyond another point. The resolution offered by the missile's seeker, the millimetric wave (MMW) radar, allows the weapon to "image" a target. Embedded algorithms allow target discrimination according to this image, allowing the weapon to attack specific targets, for example armoured vehicles only and ignore other targets, e.g cars or structures. Also the MMW radar is less susceptible to poor weather conditions, smoke or fog than conventional radar.
Each launch system incorporates three rails, i.e. one system carries three missiles. This allows a single aircraft to carry large numbers of missiles, for example a Typhoon can carry eight launchers on eight pylons, which gives a payload of twenty four missiles - in addition to a useful air-air payload. In RAF service the missile will be carried by;
In addition to air launched platforms Brimstone can also be deployed from surface launchers, vehicles and helicopters.
The first ground firing of the Brimstone missile occurred in August 1999 followed by the first air-launched firing Tornado GR1 in September 2000. Clearance of the missile was delayed by 12 months due to the unavailability of a Tornado trials aircraft, the RAF chose instead to rush the development of the Storm Shadow.
Specification
- Length: 1.8 m
- Diameter: 17.8 cm
- Weight: 48.5 kg
- Range: 32 km
- Speed: Supersonic
- Control: Aerodynamic surfaces on missile
- Propulsion: Solid-rocket
- Guidance: 94GHz Millimetric wave radar (MMW) & digital autopilot
- Warhead: HEAT tandem warhead - i.e. initiating charge followed by high explosive anti-tank jet dart
- Fuze: Crush fuze (detonation on impact)
See also
External links
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