According to publications in Russian Telegram channels, at the beginning of May 2022, the use of modern Brimstone guided missiles supplied by Great Britain by the armed forces of Ukraine against Russian troops was first noted in the Zaporozhye direction. Photos have been published of both the engine compartment of this type of rocket and the fallen whole non-functioning rocket.
A failed MBDA Brimstone guided missile found in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, transferred by the UK to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, May 2022 (c) Telegram channel "Weapons and History"
It is unclear from which launchers or carriers these missiles are used by the APU. Although Brimstone is normally an aviation missile, however, in the last year all plans for their deliveries to Ukraine revolved around ship or ground use.
The Brimstone rocket engine compartments shown in the photos from the Zaporozhye region, according to the factory nameplates, were manufactured in the USA in September 2001, and the front compartments of the captured whole rocket were manufactured in the USA in 2004, that is, both missiles belong to the very first Brimstone releases, and apparently transferred from the presence of the British armed forces (recall, that Brimstone missiles began to enter service with the British Air Force in March 2005). It is worth pointing out that the Brimstone missile is actually a development of the American Hellfire missile, in the basic version (Brimstone 1), equipped with a nose guidance compartment developed and manufactured by the British branch of the European association MBDA (MBDA UK) with an active radar homing head of the millimeter range. All other compartments of the Brimstone 1 rocket are supplied by contractors from the USA.
Ukraine thus, apparently, became the first operator of Brimstone missiles in the ground version. Earlier, MBDA UK worked out options for Brimstone ship-based (Sea Spear complex) and land-based, but never received contracts for them. In 2019, for the Polish armed forces, MBDA, in partnership with the Polish defense holding PGZ, proposed two variants of combat vehicles of the Brimstone ground complex as a long-range ATGM - based on the BMP-1 (with 12 missile launchers, a prototype was demonstrated) and on the chassis of the South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled gun (with 24 launchers).
Recall that back in October 2021, the British media reported that the UK was negotiating the sale of Brimstone missiles to Ukraine in ship-based and air-based variants, while the ship-based missiles were to be installed on the "patrol boats" of the Ukrainian Navy. The British Ministry of Defense later reported that "it was about a deal concluded in June," that is, a trilateral memorandum signed by the British Babcock Group with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the British Government in Odessa on June 21, 2021 regarding the commissioning of the Ukrainian Naval Capabilities Enhancement program with British assistance and British funding Program (UNCEP). The basis of the UNCEP program was the construction by the British side of eight large missile boats for the Ukrainian Navy under the British Babcock P50U project, with financing of this program in the form of a British export loan. At the same time, the British side offered to arm the planned missile boats of the P50U project with the Brimstone missile in the Sea Spear ship version, as well as 11 available boats of the Ukrainian Navy of the Gyurza-M and Centaur projects.
The issue of the possibility of supplying Brimstone missiles to Ukraine was updated after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Now the supply of Brimstone missiles to Ukraine was considered in the land-based variant primarily as light anti-ship coastal defense missiles, as well as as an anti-tank weapon.
On April 25, 2022, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said in the House of Commons of the British Parliament that the UK was considering the possibility of supplying Brimstone light anti-ship missiles "land-based", "which could be used to protect Odessa from any invasion from the sea." On April 27, the Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom (with the rank of junior minister), James Hippy, said that the United Kingdom would send Ukraine "hundreds of Brimstone anti-ship missiles to strengthen maritime defense," and that these missiles would arrive "in the next few weeks." On May 3, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also confirmed the rapid dispatch of Brimstone missiles to Ukraine in a speech by teleconference to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
As can be judged, the Brimstone missiles aimed at Ukraine are taken from the presence of the British armed forces and, apparently, belong to the first modification of the Brimstone 1 in an early version with a single-channel guidance system with an active radar homing head of the millimeter range. The firing range of such a missile at a ground launch, apparently, does not exceed 10-12 km.
The Brimstone missile was developed and manufactured by MBDA UK (the original developer was the GEC-Marconi missile division, later divided between BAE Systems and MBDA UK) and was originally created as an aviation one. The rocket is made using the body of the American Hellfire missile, but uses a new engine, warhead and homing head - initially active radar millimeter range in the 94 GHz band, which allows you to implement the principle of "shot and forgot". The Brimstone missile with a mass of 50 kg is designed to be carried by tactical aircraft and began to enter service with the British Air Force in the basic version in 2005, and since 2008 - in a modified version with an additional semi-active laser guidance channel (Dual Mode Brimstone - DMB). The length of the rocket is 1.8 m, the body diameter is 180 mm. The warhead of the Brimstone 1 tandem cumulative rocket weighing 6.2 kg.
Since 2016, the Brimstone 2 missile has also entered service with a modified two-channel guidance system, but due to the use of a new engine and warhead, it has a significantly increased firing range (when launched from a jet from a high altitude, the range has been increased from 20 to 60 km). Since 2018, tests of the Brimstone 3 rocket with an improved guidance system (with the introduction of additional inertial-satellite correction and datalink) have begun, and its further development has been the promising small-sized SPEAR3 cruise missile.The Eurofighter Typhoon fighter of the British Air Force can carry up to 18 Brimstone missiles, and a volley launch of up to 12 missiles at various targets is possible. Missiles have been actively and, as stated, with great success used by the British Air Force since 2008 in military campaigns in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. The Brimstone missiles were purchased by Saudi Arabia to arm Tornado aircraft, and the Brimstone 2 was ordered by Qatar as part of a contract for the purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. It was reported about plans to purchase Brimstone 2 missiles by Germany to equip Eurofighter fighters.
A failed MBDA Brimstone guided missile found in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, transferred by the UK to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, May 2022 (c) Telegram channel "Weapons and History"
The spent engine compartment of the MBDA Brimstone guided missile, transferred by the UK to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, found in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, May 2022 (c) Telegram channel Kotsnews
The main compartments of the MBDA Brimstone missile (Dual Mode Brimstone) and their manufacturers (with) Brimstone Missile
An experimental (mock-up) sample of the MBDA Brimstone ground-based self-propelled missile system based on the BMP-1, presented by MBDA in partnership with the Polish defense holding PGZ at the MSPO-2019 defense exhibition in Kielce (Poland), September 2019 (c) defencereview.gr
