Thales reveals new lightweight missile for UAVs, helicoptersBy Craig Hoyle
Thales UK is developing a new lightweight multirole missile (LMM) it says will offer a low-cost precision-guided strike capability for helicopters and unmanned air vehicles.
To be unveiled in London on 2 June and using elements from the company's Starstreak ground-based air defence missile, the new air-launched weapon has already been flown with Scheibel's S-100 Camcopter unmanned helicopter, which can carry two of the 13kg (28lb) LMM rounds.
Test firings have already been performed from a suspended Camcopter without disrupting the handling characteristics of the 200kg (440lb) vehicle, says Steve Hill, managing director of Belfast-based Thales Air Systems. Work on the LMM concept was launched in January 2007, and first flight tests were performed last December. "We have not tried to build something that's a tank killer, but we think it will have great utility against a wide range of targets," says Hill, who adds that around £2 million ($3.95 million) of company money has been set aside for the project.
Thales will also offer the up to 8km-range (4.3nm) LMM as a weapon for manned rotorcraft such as the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and AgustaWestland's Future Lynx, with the design considered a potential solution for the Royal Navy's future anti-surface guided weapon (light) requirement. "We are getting some very positive feedback," says Hill.
Powered by a Roxel two-stage solid propellant motor and to carry a 3kg blast/fragmentation warhead, the LMM is planned to have a unit cost of just 50-60% that of a Starstreak missile.
Full story
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/06/02/224303/thales-reveals-new-lightweight-missile-for-uavs-helicopters.html
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