M40. Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missiles

M40A. BEYOND VISUAL RANGE AIR TO AIR MISSILES - THE METEOR CASE

The threat

China and Russia are in detailed negotiations about joint development of an ultra-long range, high-speed air-to-air missile to enter service and be available for export by 2005.

Russian missile manufacturer Vympel State Machine Building Design Bureau confirmed in a recent interview with Defense News that it is discussing with China the development of a ramjet version of its AA-12 Adder missile.

China will take initial deliveries of the AA-12 this year and is now looking to help fund development completion of the ramjet version, which was first unveiled during the 1999 Paris Air Show.

The ramjet missile, which has already completed successful ground tests, could be available for export to hostile air forces by 2005. Its ramjet power will enable it to significantly outgun rocket-powered missiles because of its much greater range and sustained high speeds.

The intelligence communities of Europe and the United States are acutely aware of the threat this poses and, to counter the threat, the US is developing - at vast cost - the F-22 stealth fighter.

However, across Europe, the governments of Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden are responding to the threat with a requirement for an indigenous ramjet-powered missile. They have all backed Meteor. Each nation has written at senior ministerial level to their UK counterparts urging a British selection of Meteor. And they have agreed that the UK should lead development of Meteor to arm Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen.

The Meteor proposal

The Meteor programme is led by Matra BAe Dynamics (the 50/50 joint venture between BAe SYSTEMS and Aerospatiale Matra). The project includes European partners Alenia Marconi Systems, LFK (the missile division of DASA), Casa of Spain and SAAB Dynamics of Sweden, together with Boeing of the United States.

Designed specifically for the Eurofighter Typhoon, the ramjet-powered Meteor will replace the early 1980’s developed AMRAAM to provide the capability to counter today’s known threat and expected future threats.

Meteor can be launched at any point in the Eurofighter Typhoon flight envelope, fully exploiting the agility of the aircraft. The missile’s ramjet capability, already backed by more than £100 million worth of research, coupled with the missile’s advanced seeker, will give Meteor an unequalled search and destroy performance.

Meteor will be interoperable with the air forces of the Eurofighter nations and with France and Sweden where it is compatible with Rafale and Gripen.

Indeed, Eurofighter GmbH recently announced a clear preference for Meteor. “Meteor is by far the highest performing weapon system available to Eurofighter, and the only offering to fully utilise the aircraft’s exceptional sensor and avionics capabilities,” it said.

“Eurofighter with Meteor can be offered as a package satisfying most customers’ expectations of receiving a total capability from a single supply source. This creates an export package - under the control of European governments - that we can offer to a growing list of potential customers around the world.”

Technology

With several times the range of its nearest competitor, Meteor’s ramjet performance gives it a higher sustained speed and “no escape zone” many times greater than current rocket-powered medium-range air-to-air missiles.

Traditional rocket motors burn for just a few seconds and then coast to their targets, whereas Meteor’s air-breathing ramjet can sustain full power for well over a minute. As it remains under full power in the final stages of engagement, it has the kinematic performance to defeat the target and bring RAF pilots and aircraft safely home.

Meteor is a one-off development cost weapon system that fully meets the RAF requirement from the outset, without the need for expensive upgrades. The UK will pay less than a third of the development costs of the new weapon as the financial burden is shared across the European partners - Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden.

Indeed, Matra BAe Dynamics is so confident in its solution that it has given the Ministry of Defence a financial guarantee to deliver Meteor on time, to budget, to specification.

The industrial case

The Meteor missile programme will develop a high technology base in the UK and Europe, helping to secure thousands of premium jobs and creating wealth through export earning.

Meteor alone will create and sustain around 2,500 direct jobs across Europe with 1,200 of them in the UK. More than 250 companies throughout Europe will be involved in the programme, well over 100 of them in Britain. A high proportion of the work on Meteor will be in areas of original development, keeping Britain at the forefront of missile technology.

In addition to maintaining a high-technology skill-base in the missile industry, selection of Meteor by the UK government will guarantee export freedom for the Meteor-equipped Eurofighter. It will also ensure that Britain and its European partners retain 100 per cent control of the missile’s technology and its developments.

The Eurofighter industrial programme, primarily in the four partner nations - UK, Germany, Italy and Spain - employs up to 300,000 people. The high-tech jobs are vital to the economies of the European partner nations and will be further protected by increased export potential of the Eurofighter equipped with Meteor.

The Meteor programme and the unprecedented agreement with Boeing offer the US the potential to benefit from European research and development and provide excellent opportunity for two-way co-operation.

Meteor will strengthen the creation of the new European missiles powerhouse, which puts the missiles businesses of Alenia Marconi Systems and what was Aerospatiale into Matra BAe Dynamics. It will allow the enlarged company to compete on an equal footing on the world stage in all areas of the missiles industry.

Export potential

Boeing’s decision to join the Meteor team and create high-tech transatlantic co-operation has opened up a potentially huge export market of up to £10 billion, to the benefit of British industry, by providing access to the US military market and other operators of Boeing planes around the globe. New applications include the F-15, F/A-18 and JSF.

Boeing’s decision to support the programme is in line with the increasing globalisation of the high-tech aerospace industry, a policy encouraged by the UK government.

The Meteor programme will also benefit from access to Boeing’s expertise in areas such as systems and aircraft integration and advanced manufacture techniques. It will create genuine global competition and customer choice in the missiles sector.

The agreement is an opportunity to deepen transatlantic co-operation in missile development as proposed by President Clinton in his recent letter to Tony Blair while at the same time retaining UK ownership of the advanced technology and the freedom to export.

Cost of ownership

Eurofighter equipped with Meteor is an unbeatable combination, providing the RAF with the cost-effective capability to defeat all threats and bring its pilots home safely.

In comparison to Meteor, two to three times more rocket-powered missiles are required to counter the threat. The requisite larger missiles buy would significantly increase costs. Rocket-powered missiles would also have to undergo expensive upgrades and redesigns, coupled with further aircraft integration costs, to provide the RAF with the full capability it requires.

Meteor is fully compliant with the RAF’s total requirement from day one in 2008. Substantially fewer missiles are required to defeat the threat, development costs are shared across the European partners, and no upgrade is required. There is huge potential for exports.

DISCLAIMER

The views of the author are his own and not necessarily endorsed by members of the Meteor consortium. The UK Defence Forum holds no corporate view on the opinions expressed herein. The Forum exists to enable politicians, industrialists, members of the armed forces, academics and others with an interest in defence and security issues to exchange information and views on the future needs of Britain’s defence. It is operated by a non-partisan, not for profit company.

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