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Brimstone is an advanced anti-tank guided missile developed by MBDA. more...
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Overview
The missile is designed to meet the RAF's requirement for a long range anti-armour weapon, allowing strike aircraft to attack tanks and armoured vehicles at stand-off range, replacing the BL755 cluster bomb. This requirement was issued following an assessment of the British military's performance in the Gulf War. GEC-Marconi (whose missile interests now form part of MBDA) was originally awarded the contract on November 7, 1996.
Brimstone is a "fire and forget" missile, which is given targeting data by the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) prior to launch. Technically, it is programmable to adapt to a particular mission. This capability includes essentially the ability to find targets within a certain area (such as those near friendly forces), and to self-destruct if it is unable to find a target within the designated area. This information is provided to the munition by the WSO from JSTARS or local troops.
Brimstone has a Tandem Shaped Charge (TSC) warhead that employs a smaller initial charge, designed to initiate reactive armor, followed by a larger, more destructive charge, designed to penetrate and defeat the base armour.
The missile airframe is developed from Boeing's AGM-114 Hellfire, but Brimstone is an all new design with its own motor, warhead and seeker.
Sensors
The missile's advanced sensor package includes its millimetric wave radar (MMW), which allows the weapon to image the target, thus finding the most effective location on the target to impact. The bandwidth of the MMW radar also makes it less susceptible to inclement weather. With as many as twenty-four missiles in the air, the missile's targeting system also required an algorithm to ensure that missiles impact their targets in a staggered order, rather than all simultaneously. In addition to the semi-autonomous ability to decide its own targets, the Brimstone has the capacity to determine where on a target to best impact causing damage or elimination of the target.
Launch system
Each launch system incorporates three rails, i.e. one system carries three missiles. This allows a single aircraft to carry large numbers of missiles, for example a Typhoon can carry eight launchers on eight pylons, which gives a payload of twenty four missiles - in addition to a useful air-air payload. In RAF service the missile will be carried by;
Tornado GR4;
Eurofighter Typhoon;
Harrier GR9;
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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