UK SPEARS first target in milestone guided firing

The UK’s MoD has conducted the first guided firing of a SPEAR missile from a BAE Systems operated Typhoon in collaboration with MBDA at a test range in Sweden, marking a key milestone on the missile’s path to F-35B integration. 

The 19th November MBDA press release states that the trial demonstrated the release, gathering, and long-range free-flight control of the missile following a high-altitude and high-speed release of a Selective Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) missile from the Typhoon aircraft. The missile autonomously navigated to the target location using predefined waypoints and then used its radar to map the target area before switching to the radio-frequency-based seeker to engage the target.

“This trial was a key step on the way to delivering SPEAR to the UK front-line, where it will provide a new capability to defeat the most complex air defence systems,” Matthew Brown, SPEAR Team Leader at the UK’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), said. 

A series of ground and flight trials preceded the guided firing. This follows a January 2021 contract awarded to MBDA at a value of £550 million (€650 million) for SPEAR production, and a separate 2019 contract covering the missile’s integration onto the F-35. When announcing the 2021 contract, MBDA indicated that guided firings on a Typhoon would begin within 18 months, suggesting a June 2022 start date. While the program may be running behind schedule, the development is still welcome.

In 2016, the UK’s MoD and MBDA signed a £400 million (€521 million) contract to develop SPEAR. This contract advanced the SPEAR design further and built on a series of technical milestones. The scheduled completion date at that stage was 2020. SPEAR is also expected to equip Italy’s F-35s, although both the UK and Italy are likely to introduce the weapon closer to 2030 than the original 2025 plan.

Tech profile: SPEAR

SPEAR is described as a miniature cruise missile, at 1.8 metres long it is less than half the length of a Storm Shadow, indicating that the name is well-deserved. The missiles weigh around 90 kg and are armed with a multimode warhead and a programmable fuze. The range is said to be in excess of 140 km, which would enable them to operate beyond the reach of many Russian air defence systems, assuming that they can be found at those ranges. 

It employs a mixture of inertial navigation and GPS to navigate its way to the target area, at which point the radar maps the area to identify the target before handing over to the seeker to conduct the engagement. This enables the missile to locate and engage moving targets, presumably providing that they are within the seeker’s field of view. The missile can also be directed onto its target with a laser, and can be given mid-course corrections via a datalink, enabling the pilot to abort missions or shift focus providing that the missile has enough fuel. 

In addition, SPEAR missiles can be networked through MBDA’s Orchestrike system, which employs artificial intelligence to enhance collaboration between a set of fired missiles and the firing pilot, enabling the missiles to cooperate and respond to threats. They can exchange data with each other via datalinks and “work together to solve tactical challenges,” MBDA states. 

Calibre comment

The F-35B in service with the UK can carry up to eight SPEAR missiles in its weapons bay and is designed to fulfil suppression and destruction of enemy air defence (SEAD/DEAD) missions, for which SPEAR is well-suited. “The UK has developed the MBDA SPEAR 3 missile, designed specifically to work with the F-35’s sensor suite to reliably destroy Russian air defence targets from safe stand-off ranges even when those targets have ceased emitting and are repositioning,” Professor Justin Bronk from RUSI wrote in August 2024. However, small procurement quantities mean that the UK’s F-35s are limited to the use of Paveway IV bombs at present, which is unsuitable for the SEAD/DEAD mission set as it would bring aircraft too close to Russian air defence assets. 

Russian air defences have proven effective in Ukraine and able to engage Ukrainian jets at extreme ranges. They are designed to deflect a massed aerospace attack, which is very likely how a war between NATO and Russia would begin, and defend key infrastructure. They are designed to be layered and to cause attrition of NATO aircraft, reduce their sortie rates, and deflect or absorb some of the strike munitions used. Without effective SEAD/DEAD weapons like SPEAR, it would be very difficult for NATO to effectively degrade Russia’s air defence networks without suffering excessive losses in the event of a war. It is, because of this, arguably an essential war-fighting capability. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on 23rd November, 2024.