260 FLIGHT International, 25 July 1981

Britain's Aerospace Industry—Guided weapons

Market emerges for lightweight Seawolf BRITAIN'S decision to accele­rate development of the cheaper Type 23 anti­submarine frigate provides a crucial home market for lightweight Seawolf. There has been considerable over­seas interest in this anti­missile system, which is suit­able for ships down to 900 tonnes, and a Royal Navy order could lead to export sales. There are two compet­ing systems, the British Aerospace/Hollandse Signaal-apparaten Seawolf/VM40 and the Marconi Radar 805SW. A decision is expected in September.

BAe has been studying lightweight Seawolf f o r several years, selecting Sig-naal to provide the dual-frequency monopulse track­ing radar. Vickers has

Dogfight missile JOINT British Aerospace/ Bodenseewerk Geratetechnik Advanced Short-Range Air to-Air Missile (Asraam) pre-feasibility studies will be completed later this year. The missile will replace Side­winders in the 1990s and will be built in Europe and the USA. Design features include fire-and-forget guidance, by infra-red active radar or active laser, and high man­oeuvrability against off-bore-sight targets.

Asraam should be smaller than Sidewinder and be suit­able for installation on a wide range of aircraft, both air defence and ground attack. BAe continues a series of technology demon­stration flights. Asraam will complement the US Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Mis­sile to replace Sparrow.

designed a lighter twin launcher with rapid reload capability to replace the standard six - round equip­ment. Seawolf/VM40 is suit­able for a number of ships and a containerised version could arm container ships like those to be used by the US Rapid Deployment Force. Private-venture lightweight Seawolf development has so far cost about £20 million.

Marconi Radar is overall ship system contractor for the standard GWS25 Seawolf fitted to Type 22 Broadsword-class frigates. The company has recently demonstrated successfully the improved GWS25 Mod 1, which has a modified DN181 Rapier Blindfire millimetric radar in place of the TV system nor­mally used to track low-angle

sea-skimming anti-ship mis­siles. This system may not now be adopted by the Royal Navy as the £125 million Type 22 is to be replaced on the order books by the smaller Type 23, which has a target cost of £65 million.

Faced with the cancella­tion of GWS25, which cur­rently employs 1,500 people, Marconi has come up with a belated proposal for a lightweight Seawolf tracking system, based on the S800 family of radars and using the modified DN181 Blindfire low-angle tracking sensor. According to Marconi, the 805SW system is slightly lighter than VM40 and offers better performance at a com­parable price. The fire-con­trol system would also be suitable for guiding guns.

Right The Vickers lightweight Seawolf launcher. B e l o w Containerised Seawalf/VM40 on a cargo ship, showing the tracking radar and twin launchers

UK torpedo industry leads the world HAVING created a British torpedo industry, the UK Ministry of Defence now finds the future of that in­dustry in its hands. After a history of buying US tor­pedoes, Britain decided in the 1970s to proceed with the £920 million Marconi Space and Defence Systems Sting Ray project ra ther than to update existing Mk 46 weapons in a £200 million Neartip near-term improve­ment programme. Sting Ray is now the most advanced lightweight torpedo in the world, ten years ahead of its US rival, and its technology forms the basis of the MSDS

7525 heavyweight torpedo now on offer to the Royal Navy.

A year ago, the UK MoD decided to open the heavy­weight requirement to com­petition and Gould, with strong backing from the US Navy, offered the Mk 48 Adcap (advanced capability) and substantial industrial offsets. A decision is ex­pected in August at the earliest. MSDS argues that a decision against 7525 will hurt Sting Ray export pros­pects, appearing as a public vote of no confidence in Britain's new torpedo in­dustry. There is a market for

3,000 to 4,000 Sting Rays out­side the USA. The heavy­weight market is much smaller.

MSDS is two to three months ahead of schedule and 5 to 6 per cent within cost on the £250 million Sting Ray development pro­gramme. The first production acceptance rounds were de­livered in April. To keep down unit cost, the main pro­duction contract will be opened to competition, in­cluding Marconi's majority share but excluding final assembly and test, which will

Cont inued in co lumn 1, Page 261

.SEeie'i Bi-itoic I'as drop-pod out of Anti-Ship EuroHiisate lAgsm], 4he European effort to de­velop a 'common- super­sonic anti-ship missile for the late 1980s. Aerospa­tiale and MBB have joined forces to develop the Mach 2-plus Ami-N •:: v i r e s Supersouique BAe will continue to mon­

i t o r this j>F€ijff,siiiMie Unit may eventualh develop a supersonic version of the Sea Eagle anti-ship mis-sil<

BIowp; sent of the . t o w e d quadru] r for the Sh e sur­face-to-air missile has been . but the £200 m eiaent programme for B: Army sho- uncfaed missiles cc s. The weapon cou recon­naissance h • =rs.

Sea Dart There will be no further orders for the Sea Dart-equipped Type 42 air-defence destroyer and plans for a mid-life improvement programme have been dropped. The proposed GWS 31 Sea Dart Mk 2, with new surveil­lance and tracking radars, has been cancelled. Sea Dart also equips the Invincible-class anti-sut>» marine aircraft carriers, only two of which will enter service. BAe con­tinues to work on Light­weight Sea Dart, which features box launchers bolted to the decks of ships down to 300 tonnes^