Thales is developing a lightweight multirole missile (LMM) to offer a low-cost precision-strike capability for a variety of air-, land- and sea-based platforms, but particularly for unmanned air vehicles (UAV).
“The UAV community is in dire need of a weapon that can provide precision but also…something more potent than a 2.75-inch rocket,” William Rumble, director of Thales Air Systems, said during an Oct. 6 interview on the sidelines of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington.
Using technologies from its Starstreak ground-based air defence missile, Thales has already flown the new air-launched munition on the BAE Systems Fury UAV.
“We did a lot of successful flight-testing this summer,” Steve Hill, managing director for the company’s air systems division, told sister publication Defense Daily. He added that the tests showed the LMM was “perfect for the UAV.”
At 28 pounds, the LMM “is somewhere right in between a heavy Hellfire and the lightweight rockets,” Hill said. “There is considerable interest in this type of weapon around the world, and we want to bring it to the U.S. market.”
Work on the LMM concept was launched last January, and first flight tests were performed in December. The firm has spent nearly $3.9 million of internal funds on the project, according to Hill.
Thales hopes to keep the cost of the new munition highly competitive.
“This is going to be two-thirds the cost of one of our traditional short-range missiles,” Hill said. “Cost has been one of the major driving requirements.”
He said a single round would likely be priced between $40,000 and $50,000.
The 1.3-meter missile, which will have a range of eight kilometers, is expected to have great utility against a wide variety of targets, Hill added. For example, a sea-based LMM could be useful against small terrorist or pirate vessels.
“We have not tried to build a tank killer, but it will certainly be capable against armored targets short of that,” he explained.
Guidance will be provided using a laser seeker, and Thales may eventually integrate a low-cost semi-active laser. To make a SAL seeker a viable option, however, cost for a single seeker would have to be reduced to a few thousand dollars.
“We are talking to…several companies” about a low-cost seeker, Hill said.
The weapon carries a 3-kilogram blast fragmentation/shaped charge warhead, according to Hill, but could carry a modular warhead in the future.
As concerns about the future size of defense budgets mount world-wide, Hill added that the time is ripe to expand into new markets.
“The U.K., like every market, has a real problem with funding going forward,” he explained. “We’re really trying hard to increase our presence here in the U.S.”