The UK Ministry of defence on 6 January 2021 announced about signing of a contract worth 550 million pounds from the British branch of the European missile Association MBDA to complete the development and batch production of new small-sized cruise missiles SPEAR3 for weapons of the fifth generation fighter Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II UK armed forces. The number of missiles ordered was not disclosed.
Image of small-sized MBDA SPEAR3 cruise missiles launched from the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter (c) MBDA
It is reported that within 18 months from the date of writing the contract, full-scale tests of SPEAR3 missiles from the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter should be started, and in 2023, serial deliveries of missiles to equip British F - 35B fighters will begin.
Small-sized promising high-precision ammunition SPEAR (British designation - SPEAR3), intended primarily for placement in the internal armament compartments of the Lockheed Martin F-35 tactical fighter (including the F-35B variant), was developed by the British department of MBDA (MBDA UK) under a contract of the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom under the requirements of the SPEAR (Selected Precision Effects At Range) Capability 3 program (hence the number "3" in the British designation).
SPEAR is actually a further development of the well-known family of British guided munitions MBDA Brimstone and is a miniature cruise missile with a length of 1.8 meters and a body diameter of 180 mm, externally very similar to the small-sized Raytheon GBU-53 SDB II guided bomb, but differing in the use of a small Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 turbojet engine (also used on the American Lockheed Martin JSOW-ER missile). This gives the SPEAR a range of up to more than 140 km when dropped from high altitudes. The weight of the entire ammunition is about 100 kg. The guidance system includes a multi-channel homing head, apparently based on such a Brimstone 3 missile and including active millimeter-wave radar, infrared and semi-active laser channels, in combination with an inertial satellite system and a two-way data transmission equipment. The missile is designed to hit stationary and moving targets, and is planned, among other things, to be used as an anti-ship missile as part of the armament of British F-35B deck-based aircraft.
In each of the two weapons bays of the F-35B will be possible to accommodate up to four ammunition SPEAR, in addition, SPEAR missiles on external suspension will be capable of carrying a combat aircraft of other types - so fighter Eurofighter Typhoon can carry up to 16 missiles.
In 2014, flight tests of SPEAR missile demonstrators from the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft were launched, as a result of which in May 2016, the British Ministry of Defense awarded MBDA UK a contract of 411 million pounds for full-scale development of the system. In 2019, an additional contract was signed for the integration of the missile into the F-35B armament complex.
