UK Royal Air Force BIG NASTY MISSILE for Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft

• published: 31 Oct 2015
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The UK Royal Air Force Storm Shadow is a big nasty missile for the Eurofighter Typhoon Aircraft and is great news for British Military Power. Storm Shadow is a British, French and Italian air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the British name for the weapon; in French service it is called SCALP EG (Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée – Emploi Général, meaning General Purpose Long Range Standoff Cruise Missile). The missile is based on the earlier MBDA Apache anti-runway missile, and differs in that it carries a warhead, rather than submunitions. Type Long-range, air-to-surface missile Place of origin France, Italy, United Kingdom Service history In service 2002 – present Used by See Inventory Production history Manufacturer MBDA Unit cost £790,000[1] Specifications Weight 1,300 kilograms (2,866.0 lb) Length 5.1 metres (16.7 ft) Diameter 0.48 metres (1.6 ft) Warhead 450 kg BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) Engine Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet, producing 5.4 kN thrust Wingspan 2.84 metres (9.3 ft) Operational range 300+nm (560+km) Lo-Lo profile [2][N 1] Flight altitude 30 metres (98.4 ft)–40 metres (131.2 ft) Speed 1,000 km/h Mach 0.8 Guidance system Inertial, GPS and TERPROM. Terminal guidance using imaging infrared DSMAC Launch platform Panavia Tornado Mirage 2000 Rafale Eurofighter Typhoon (from 2015) Note: Jump up ^ After release, the wings deploy and the weapon navigates its way to the target at low level using terrain profile matching and an integrated Global Positioning System (GPS). - Royal Air Force Oct 2014 Characteristics[edit] The missile has a range of approximately 250 kilometres (155 mi),[3] is powered by a turbojet at Mach 0.8 and can be carried by the RAF Tornado GR4, Saab Gripen, Italian Tornado IDS, Dassault Mirage 2000 and Dassault Rafale aircraft.[4] Storm Shadow will be integrated with the Eurofighter Typhoon as part of the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) in 2015,[5][6] and it will be fitted to the F-35 Lightning II once that aircraft comes into service.[7] The BROACH warhead features an initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter a bunker, then a variable delay fuze to control detonation of the main warhead. The missile weighs about 1,300 kilograms (2,866 lb), has a maximum body diameter of 48 centimetres (1.6 ft) and a wingspan of 3 metres (9.8 ft). Intended targets are command, control and communications; airfields; ports and power stations; AMS/ammunition storage; ships/submarines in port; bridges and other high-value strategic targets.[4] It is a fire and forget missile, programmed before launch. Once launched, the missile cannot be controlled, its target information changed or be self-destructed. Mission planners programme the missile with the target air defences and target. The missile follows a path semi-autonomously, on a low flight path guided by GPS and terrain matching to the area of the target.[citation needed] Close to the target, the missile climbs and then bunts into a dive. Climbing to altitude is intended to achieve the best probability of target identification and penetration. During the bunt, the nose cone is jettisoned to allow a high resolution thermographic camera (Infrared homing) to observe the target area. The missile then tries to locate its target based upon its targeting information (DSMAC). If it can not, and there is a high risk of collateral damage, it will fly to a crash point instead of risking inaccuracy.[8] Recent enhancements of the Storm Shadow / SCALP EG include the capability to relay target information just before impact, utilization of one-way (link-back) datalink, to relay battle damage assessment information back to the host aircraft. This upgrade is already under development under a French DGA contract. Another feature planned for insertion into the weapon is in-flight retargeting capability, utilizing a two-way datalink.[9] British Aerospace and Matra were competing with McDonnell Douglas, Texas Instruments/Short Brothers, Hughes/Smiths Industries, Daimler-Benz Aerospace/Bofors, GEC-Marconi and Rafael.[10] The BAe/Matra Storm Shadow was selected on 25 June 1996.[11] A development and production contract was signed on 11 February 1997, by which time Matra and BAe had completed the merger of their missile businesses to form Matra BAe Dynamics.[12] France ordered 500 SCALP missiles in January 1998.[13] The first successful fully guided firing of the Storm Shadow/SCALP EG took place at the CEL Biscarosse range in France at the end of December 2000[4] from a Mirage 2000N. The first British firing occurred on 25 May 2001 from a Tornado flying from BAE Warton.[citation needed] Storm Shadow entered service with the Royal Air Force in late 2001.[4] It was first used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by No. 617 Squadron.