The Times January 04, 2006
20 years later, the RAF can fire with Brimstone
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
AN RAF tank-busting missile that has taken more than 20 years to come into service is to be fitted to all frontline Tornado GR4 bombers this year.
The Brimstone anti-armour missile, developed at a cost of about £850 million, is one of the longest-running weapon programmes in recent times. It was devised in the early 1980s to destroy the most advanced Russian tanks.
When the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire imploded, military planners at the Ministry of Defence reviewed all the main equipment projects designed for the Cold War, and Brimstone was thrown on the scrapheap.
In 1993, however, two years after Army Challenger 1 tanks had faced – at some risk – but beaten Soviet-made tanks in the Gulf War after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the MoD decided to revive the Brimstone project.
The missile development suffered technical problems. In its last report on the MoD’s top 20 weapons projects, the National Audit Office said that the Brimstone programme had suffered three years of delays.
Once it becomes fully operational this year, it will be able to destroy all known armoured threats on the battlefield, from tanks and artillery to personnel carriers, according to experts who have been testing it during the past ten months.
The new weapon is intended to give the RAF the most potent tank-busting capability in the world. The missile’s computerised radar seeker can recognise an armoured vehicle on the battlefield and then fires a tandem-charge warhead that can penetrate the thickest armour.
An internal MoD journal said that pilots could launch Brimstone “when targets are not visible from the attacking aircraft into a designated hostile area to search for targets”.
The Army now has Challenger 2 tanks, which have a more powerful anti-armour shell, but Brimstone will significantly increase the firepower available to commanders in time of war.The arrival of Brimstone as an anti-tank weapon coincides with the MoD’s implementation of a policy to reduce the number of Challenger 2 squadrons and AS90 artillery batteries. This policy, announced in July 2004, reflected a shift in emphasis from heavy warfighting systems to light and medium-weight forces.
DEFENCE BILLS
Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol and attack aircraft £3.8 billion
Typhoon/Eurofighter combat aircraft £20 billion
Astute class nuclear- powered submarines £3.5 billion
Bowman communications system £1.9 billion
Astor airborne stand-off ground-surveillance radar £800 million
Type 45 destroyer £561 million each
Two large aircraft carriers — estimated £3 billion
Joint Strike Fighter for the carriers — estimated £10 billion
thetimesonline.co.uk
20 years later, the RAF can fire with Brimstone
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
AN RAF tank-busting missile that has taken more than 20 years to come into service is to be fitted to all frontline Tornado GR4 bombers this year.
The Brimstone anti-armour missile, developed at a cost of about £850 million, is one of the longest-running weapon programmes in recent times. It was devised in the early 1980s to destroy the most advanced Russian tanks.
When the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire imploded, military planners at the Ministry of Defence reviewed all the main equipment projects designed for the Cold War, and Brimstone was thrown on the scrapheap.
In 1993, however, two years after Army Challenger 1 tanks had faced – at some risk – but beaten Soviet-made tanks in the Gulf War after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the MoD decided to revive the Brimstone project.
The missile development suffered technical problems. In its last report on the MoD’s top 20 weapons projects, the National Audit Office said that the Brimstone programme had suffered three years of delays.
Once it becomes fully operational this year, it will be able to destroy all known armoured threats on the battlefield, from tanks and artillery to personnel carriers, according to experts who have been testing it during the past ten months.
The new weapon is intended to give the RAF the most potent tank-busting capability in the world. The missile’s computerised radar seeker can recognise an armoured vehicle on the battlefield and then fires a tandem-charge warhead that can penetrate the thickest armour.
An internal MoD journal said that pilots could launch Brimstone “when targets are not visible from the attacking aircraft into a designated hostile area to search for targets”.
The Army now has Challenger 2 tanks, which have a more powerful anti-armour shell, but Brimstone will significantly increase the firepower available to commanders in time of war.The arrival of Brimstone as an anti-tank weapon coincides with the MoD’s implementation of a policy to reduce the number of Challenger 2 squadrons and AS90 artillery batteries. This policy, announced in July 2004, reflected a shift in emphasis from heavy warfighting systems to light and medium-weight forces.
DEFENCE BILLS
Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol and attack aircraft £3.8 billion
Typhoon/Eurofighter combat aircraft £20 billion
Astute class nuclear- powered submarines £3.5 billion
Bowman communications system £1.9 billion
Astor airborne stand-off ground-surveillance radar £800 million
Type 45 destroyer £561 million each
Two large aircraft carriers — estimated £3 billion
Joint Strike Fighter for the carriers — estimated £10 billion
thetimesonline.co.uk
