The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence signed a contract with MBDA worth nearly $580 million for the Weapon Development Phase of the SPEAR air-to-surface precision strike missile, the company said May 18.
The contract work advances MBDA’s SPEAR weapon design and builds on technical milestones completed in the early Assessment Phase.
The missile is being developed as part of the U.K.’s Selective Precision Effects At Range Capability 3 (SPEAR 3) requirement for the country’s F-35 aircraft with an option to also equip the Typhoon aircraft. SPEAR is planned to engage long range, mobile, fleeting, and re-locatable targets in all weather, day or night. It will also operate in the presence of countermeasures, obscurants, and camouflage while ensuring a stand-off range between the aircrew and threat air defenses, Saab said.
“Delivering the solution for the U.K.’s SPEAR 3 requirement is an important program for MBDA, and for the future operators of the F-35 in both the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm,” Dave Armstrong, Executive Group Technical Director and UK Managing Director at MBDA, said in a statement.
“It delivers a U.K. sovereign capability on the F-35 that will bring the kind of precision against moving targets previously seen with Brimstone, but at stand-off ranges that give the aircrew numerous advantages in terms of operational flexibility and survivability,” he added.
MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier said, “MBDA’s selection to provide SPEAR confirms the company’s position as the European leader in complex weapons and importantly positions MBDA in the international arena for the next decade with this unique precision strike capability.”
The contract is set to run through 2020, employing 350 missile engineering jobs across company sites in Stevenage, Bristol, and Lostock, U.K.