SPEAR Missile Test Firing Success

A mini-cruise missile being developed by MBDA UK and set to be used by the Royal Navy's F-35B Lightning II fighter planes has been successfully fired from a jet for the first time.

As per a recent press statement from the U.K. Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) procurement arm, a Typhoon jet has conducted the first of a set of trials of the new weapon at the Vidsel range in northern Sweden.

The Select Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) missile, expected to have a range of up to about 90 miles, will eventually be fitted to the Royal Navy's F-35B Lightning II jets operated by the Fleet Air Arm and deployed on its two aircraft carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

The missile will be effective against naval assets as well as a range of land targets including armoured vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, air defences, ballistic missile launchers and buildings and bunkers. Each F-35B aircraft will be able to carry up to eight SPEARs, which use can use laser, radar or GPS-aided guidance to track and hit their targets.

As per the DE&S statement the guided test represented a key landmark in the development of the SPEAR programme, which it is overseeing. Latest estimates suggest the SPEAR missile will be at ready for service in 2028.

It noted: "The trial, which did not carry a live warhead, demonstrated the release, gather and long-range free-flight control of the missile following a high-altitude and high-speed release from the Typhoon aircraft.

"It also demonstrated the missile’s ability to autonomously navigate to its target via predefined waypoints, using its advanced all-weather radar seeker to map the target area, and then use seeker radiofrequency imagery to successfully engage with it."

Matthew Brown, SPEAR Team Leader at DE&S, called the trial“ a key step on the way to delivering SPEAR to the U.K. front-line.”

Meanwhile Mike Mew, Tactical Strike Director at MBDA, commented: “SPEAR is a truly unique weapon system — the first to offer the range, flexibility, precision and load-out to defeat modern enemy air defences. The success of this trial is thanks to excellent joint working from teams across MoD, BAE Systems and MBDA.”

• You can read more details on the DE&S website