Missile Modified to Jam Electronics
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עברית (Hebrew)
An arms manufacturing company has been at work alongside the British Ministry of Defence developing and demonstrating an electronic warfare variant of the SPEAR missile.
MBDA has been at work modifying their SPEAR missile to combat electronic warfare. The firm has replaced the missile’s warhead with a payload that is capable of jamming enemy air defenses and other countermeasures.
“These state of the art electronic jammers will confuse our adversaries and keep our pilots safer than ever in the air,” said Defence Procurement Minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
The idea is to operate the electronic warfare missile as a swarm, launching several of them to confuse and overburden enemy defenses. Traditional strike weapons, such as attacking jets, will then have an easier time penetrating through hostile defenses and attacking targets.
Defensenews.com mentions that the electronic warfare variant of the SPEAR missile is intended to complement the traditional SPEAR cruise missile. Since both variants share the same propulsion systems and dimensions, both variants can reach the same targets from the same launch site.
Such electronic warfare missiles are a requirement for two different next generation combat aircraft programs being worked on in Europe; the Future Combat Air System program and the Tempest.
MBDA is also responsible for making weapons for both combat aircraft programs.
