MBDA has started producing Brimstone 2 missiles at its Lostock and Henlow manufacturing facilities in England. The missile incorporates the latest mmW radar and semi-active laser Dual Mode Seeker capability, an Insensitive Munition (IM) rocket motor and warhead, and a new and stronger airframe for increased air carriage robustness. This new missile will enter service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) on Tornado GR4s and is now contracted to be evaluated for Typhoon.
Brimstone 2 is the next evolution in the Brimstone missile’s continued development. It incorporates enhanced guidance capabilities for destroying challenging targets, the hallmark of Dual Mode Brimstone’s stellar combat record. It is also IM compliant, which significantly improves operator, maintainer and platform safety on operations and reduces the logistics burden of operational deployments.
Entering production is a key step to fielding on the RAF’s platforms and follows the Brimstone 2 IM rocket motor and IM warhead successful qualification, which are both in production. MBDA accepted the first production batch of rocket motors on the 10th June 2014 from Roxel and the warheads on the 30th June from TDW.
The Tornado GR4 will benefit first while activities are also underway to assess Brimstone 2 for use on Typhoon. Following the award of a study contract to BAE Systems from UK MoD, on 18th June 2014 MBDA signed a contract with BAE Systems to support the evaluation of Typhoon integration of Brimstone 2.