Missile makers home in on Middle East market

Dominance in the air is a critical prerequisite to success in major combat operations. As the balance of political power in the Middle East has shifted over the past decade, and regional tensions persist, many of the armed forces in the region have undertaken comprehensive reassessments of their national aerial defence capabilities.

As well as upgrading and acquiring new and sophisticated aircraft, many nations within the region are updating their air-launched missile inventories; and this interest has fuelled a boom in the Middle East market, with a number of defence companies being very active in promoting their products.

A diverse and flexible air-launched missile inventory including air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-ship missiles, is a vital component of a nation’s ability to defend its borders and territories from hostile attack. As technology advances in this market, armed forces are no longer restricted to relying on close-range combat capabilities; but are able to invest in highly advanced stand-off weapons for true air dominance.

The market is seeing investment in smarter weaponry – more precise systems that reduce collateral damage and the risk to the pilot; as well as greater importance being placed on coalition interoperability.

The Middle East market is one of the biggest accessible markets for missile technology in the world. The region has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, and has now reached a stable point in terms of growth with a handful of companies, including MBDA, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, dominating the market with their advanced systems.

With a number of contracts being pursued within the region, Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile System’s Air Warfare Systems, said: “We are pursuing a ‘follow-the-platform’ strategy. Our weapons are affordable and integrated on a wide variety of platforms. A fighter or attack aircraft without weapons is pretty much useless, so we want to make sure that our partners in the region know about the latest developments with our weapons, and understand how they can use them to promote regional security.”

Raytheon is promoting a number of key products within the region, including the AIM 120 C-7 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM), Aim 9X Block II, Paveway, and Maverick missiles.

The platform-agnostic nature of these products, and the fact that they are integrated on so many different platforms, is a key factor to the success of these missiles. Schulte explained: “Not only does this translate into significant cost savings on integration to different platforms but it simplifies coalition interoperability because so many countries use Raytheon weapons. Weapon commonality among allies means similar training programmes, simplified logistics trains and the ability to operate more effectively in a coalition environment.”

The AIM 120 C-7 AMRAAM is, arguably, the most recognised weapon of the Raytheon portfolio. Integrated on to eight fourth and fifth generation aircraft, the weapon is fielded by 36 air forces worldwide and more than 18,000 units have been produced. It provides operational flexibility and multi-shot capability, as well as robust immunity to countermeasures, state-of-the-art active radar guidance and immediate manoeuvring following launch.

The AIM-9X Block II is the world’s “premier fifth generation IR dogfight air-to-air missile”, claimed Schulte. The system, with extremely high-off boresight capability, thrust-vectoring manoeuvrability, internally-stored cryo-engine and an imaging focal plane array, is stored in a ‘smart’ container. “This means that, as threats evolve and we develop different uses for the weapon, we can upgrade the missile software without ever taking it out of the box,” explained Schulte.

The company’s Paveway family of laser-guided and dual-mode GPS/laser-guided weapon systems is also being marketed in the region. The system is a derivative of the Enhanced Paveway that is designed for use with the MK and BLU series warheads ranging from 250 to 5000 lbs.

“In effect, Paveway can transform a ‘dumb’ bomb into a lethal precision munition,” Schulte said. “This system has been used to eliminate the full spectrum of targets from aircraft shelters to runways, bridges to buildings, and command bunkers to mobile missile launchers as well as moving targets, and accounts for more than half of all air-to-ground precision guided weapons expended in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

Also with a very high success rate is the Maverick, three variants of which, charge-coupled device (CCD) guided weapon, a laser-guided system and an infrared-weapon, are included in numerous Middle East nation missile inventories. Raytheon has recently begun the testing of the enhanced laser-guidance and control section, and the enhanced laser-guided variant is expected to go into production shortly.
The success of the system is at least in part due to the fact that it requires only minor software updates to platforms for integration, “which is a whole lot easier and more affordable than re-writing an aircraft’s operational flight program to accommodate a new weapon system”, according to Schulte. “It also allows customers to upgrade the system rather than acquiring an entirely new one,” he added. “By upgrading, you can get all the benefits of purchasing a new system at the fraction of what a new system would cost. And you can do it on your timeline, when you’re ready and when you can afford it.”

MBDA is currently marketing the whole range of its air-launched missile products to the Middle East, with a number of contracts in place with regional armed forces. Florent Duleux, vice president export sales directorate said: “We are, at the moment, in discussions with many customers in the Middle East, with the market covering the whole range of our products.”

“The region has the capability to invest in and purchase high technology systems and, in order to work with these countries, you must be offering state-of-the-art products that are at the top of the technology range – this is why MBDA has a long-standing relationship with many customers in this region, and why we will continue to do so.”

MBDA offers a number of products with different capabilities within the region. Its air-to-surface products include the Storm Shadow for stand-off and deep strike, the Exocet anti-ship missile, the dual-mode Brimstone and the A2SM, in partnership with Sagem.

“Deep strike is a continuing strong market for us, as is the large anti-ship capability,” Duleux explained. “For these products the market will continue to develop over the coming years as the numerous threats and political tension in the region remains very high, with countries looking for products capable of meeting the specific requirements of their armed forces and aerial platforms of choice.”

The Storm Shadow / SCALP is a conventionally armed stand-off air-to-ground long-range missile. The precision weapon is designed to neutralise high-value targets while avoiding collateral damage, such as well-defended static infrastructure targets.

The weapon has been in service since 1997 with Western armed forces, including the UK and France, as well as undisclosed Middle Eastern nations.

The Storm Shadow /SCALP is a pre-programmed fire-and-forget missile that allows the launch aircraft to remain well clear of enemy defences. In the first phase of flight, the missile avoids radar detection by cruising at an optimum low-level altitude, and is autonomously guided by its navigation system via digital terrain profile matching and GPS. Final target approach is provided by an imaging infra-red seeker and automatic target recognition system that is able to match the actual scene with the memorised scene. The 1300kg turbo-jet engine weapon has a range of more than 250km.

The family of Exocet anti-ship missiles provides fire-and-forget capability with skimming flight for high-value naval targets that can be fired from all maritime platforms, including fixed-wing and helicopter aircraft as well as surface ships.

The Exocet family includes the AM39 that can be launched at stand-off range (up to 70km depending on launch altitude and speed) from aerial platforms; the latest digitisation of the AM30, the AM39 Block 2 was developed specifically to meet the requirements of the latest generation of medium-heavy rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including the Rafale F3 combat aircraft.

The missile is propelled by two solid-propellant rockets and uses inertial navigation during cruise phase and active homing during terminal phase, and has been sold in all configurations to 35 nations worldwide.

In addition to the Exocet, the anti-ship capability is served by MBDA’s Marte medium-range missile, which is designed to meet operational requirement in complex littoral environments and blue water scenarios.

“This product has been very successful lately and we expect this to continue,” said Duleux. “It is very powerful compared to similar sized missiles and can be fitted on helicopters, including the AW101 and NH90, in its MK2/S configuration.

“On the other side of the market,” Duleux added, “a more precise and accurate requirement is emerging for anti-small ship and anti-tank products. Some companies are choosing to meet this requirement with limited capability inexpensive products, such as laser-guided rockets, while we prefer a high quality capability – including the Brimstone – which allows several firings. This is not the case with a rocket.”

The Brimstone air-to-ground precision attack weapon is specifically designed to meet the threat posed by armoured vehicles that are becoming more advanced, protected, discrete and mobile than ever before. The system comprises a re-usable launcher with three missiles with direct or indirect firing mode, and can be fitted into combat aircraft for advanced, flexible and precise attack. The missile follows an inertial trajectory during the first flight phase, followed by active millimetric radar target acquisition. The weapon can be used against main battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers, self-propelled guns and mobile air defence vehicles with a highly effective target detection capability.

The flagship air-to-air product in the MBDA range is the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), which is being developed to meet the requirements of six European nations (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden) for a system capable of meeting current and future combat scenarios.

The Meteor is being integrated on the Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale, and will also potentially be integrated into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The system is an active radar seeker that is able to engage targets autonomously in all weather, light conditions and severe electronic warfare environments.

Its long stand-off range (100km), high kill probability and ramjet propulsion system make the weapon able to defeat even challenging and manoeuvring targets.

The potential for the Meteor system within the Middle East market is significant according to Duleux. “Its capabilities are tremendous and we are currently in discussions with many customers,” he said. “It’s a unique capability and this product has no competition in the market at the moment.”

Lockheed Martin takes what it calls a ‘delivery focused’ approach to the Middle East, with a number of reliable and evolving technologies currently being marketed to the region to meet current and future threats.

Joe Garland, vice president of international business development for Lockheed Martin missiles and fire control, said the company’s interests in the Middle East are currently focused on the Hellfire ‘R’ warhead variant, and the directional attack guided rocket (DAGR).

The Hellfire II AGM-114R multi-purpose missile is the latest model of the AGM-114. It builds on the success of the original, with the addition of semi-active laser seeker that consolidates capabilities into a single missile that is able to defeat a broad range of targets. The missile features a three-axis inertial measurement unit, which enables the engagement of targets to the side and behind without the need to manoeuvre into position; and brings increased lethality and missile impact.

The DAGR currently in low-rate production is a precision-strike munition that is capable of destroying lightly-armoured vehicles, rooms within buildings and other high-value targets.  Capable of being launched from a range of aerial platforms, the DAGR has completed more than 20 successful guided flights, and has a proven accuracy from up to 10 degrees off boresight.

“Interest in these two products, in particular, is being fuelled by customers who want a precise capability against all existing and postulated threats,” Garland said. “The Middle East market is very important to us and we are committed to delivering a capability that meets the requirements of our customers at an affordable price.”

Between them, Raytheon, MBDA and Lockheed Martin, cover the most interesting air-launched missiles being marketed to the Middle East. With regional armed forces demanding the most sophisticated weaponry for their inventories, the coming decade will see continued growth and ingenuity in this market as requirements become increasingly diverse and exacting.