European multi-nation conglomerate MBDA believes the applicability of its Dual Mode Brimstone air-to-ground precision attack weapon and its uniquely-integrated millimeter wave seeker makes it a top contender in the Army’s Joint Air to Ground Missile (JAGM) program.
MBDA spokesman Doug Denneny told Defense Daily yesterday at the Association of the United States Army trade show in downtown Washington the Dual Mode Brimstone can be deployed from anything that currently employs a Hellfire missile because it is relatively the same shape and size as Hellfire and can work off the same M299 launcher.
“You never say integration is easy, because that’s a hard thing to say,” Denneny said. “But it’s relatively easy.”
Denneny said Boeing’s [BA] AH-64 Apache helicopter and AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter and MD Helicopter’s MH-6 Little Bird could deploy Dual Mode Brimstone. Denneny also said Dual Mode Brimstone could be fired from remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). MBDA said in a release Dual Mode Brimstone is also intended for integration on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and the Defense Department’s next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].
Denneny said the accuracy of Dual Mode Brimstone’s millimeter wave seeker head sets it apart. Denneny said the millimeter wave seeker head allows the operator to employ it just as if they are employing a semi-active laser Hellfire, except the millimeter wave seeker head hones in on the center of mass, providing increased accuracy and less waste compared to Hellfire.
“What that allows is in a high-speed moving target situation, if the laser spot comes off the target today, for instance, on a Hellfire, the missile may miss by six or seven feet and blow up in the dirt behind the target,” Denneny said. “With Dual Mode Brimstone, it locks onto the object.”
JAGM is an Army program to develop the next-generation air-to-ground missile to replace the current BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, AGM-114 Hellfire and the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles. The Hellfire missile is developed by Lockheed Martin.
“It’s something we’re marketing to really raise awareness and also to offer to the U.S. Army and other services a complete, in-production, known-cost opportunity, particularly now that JAGM has moved off to the side,” Denneny said.
Denneny said Dual Mode Brimstone is battle tested, having been fired over 200 times by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force during its Libya campaign, including from a Tornado GR-4 aircraft. The Tornado GR-4 is developed by multi-nation conglomerate Panavia Aircraft GmbH.
Denneny said Dual Mode Brimstone’s third highlight is that it is a low-damage collateral warhead.
MBDA is jointly held by BAE Systems with 37.5 percent, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) with 37.5 percent and Finmeccanica with 25 percent (Defense Daily, April 17).