MBDA, Europe’s leading missile systems company, unveiled Spear, a new, high precision surface attack weapon for fast combat aircraft. Spear is the solution being proposed by MBDA to meet the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) requirement for a network-centric, low collateral damage, multi-target stand-off strike weapon for multiple loadout in the internal carriage bay of its future fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

With a range out beyond 100 km and, high subsonic flight, Spear is capable of dealing with an extremely broad target set ranging from fast moving manoeuvring vehicles including main battle tanks (MBTs), hardened structures, air defence units and missile launchers to naval vessels. In fulfilling the UK requirement, Spear is unique in providing such a range of capabilities in such a high loadout weapon system.

The Executive Group Director Technical and MBDA UK Managing Director Steve Wadey said: “A weapon like Spear is vital for the future multi-role missions of the F-35 because it maximises the network and sensor potential provided by the aircraft and maximises enhanced aircrew survivability in hostile airspace. I also think it to be indispensable for a number of other combat aircraft aspiring to a true multi-role capability. In this respect, and based on extremely enthusiastic feedback from our global customer base, I am very confident that Spear has the potential of making a very significant impact on the export market.”