More Capable Weapons to Mitigate Capability Gaps

Air Commodore Blythe Crawford, Commandant of the Britain’s Air and Space Warfare Centre and moderator of the Weapons and Munitions panel at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference, outlined the challenges and opportunities facing weapons and munitions enterprises in the US and partner nations. Using lessons learned from Ukraine, he noted the US needs a new weapons procurement strategy as weapons aren’t “cheap,” and the nation can’t support high sustainment rates generated by transfers to Ukraine, for example. He observed that Ukraine has used off-the-shelf drones to accurately drop weapons on Russian vehicles, and pointed out that both Russia and China are stepping up their investments and testing of hypersonic weapons, diminishing the US advantage. Industry panelists offered solutions to these challenges, ranging from optimising opportunities with partners and allies, to relying more on layered defences.

“Low hanging fruit,” is how John Martin, Director of International Programmes at MBDA, views the opportunities offered by his company and others outside the US. “Development holes [lead to] 10 years and a billion dollars required to develop a weapon, and the US often needs weapons yesterday,” he suggested, pointing out that MBDA has production facilities in Europe and the US – offering more industry capacity. He then identified two MBDA weapons – the Spear ASM (in development) and Brimstone (in service), which offer advanced capabilities for operators. Spear is reported have a Link16 capability and an air-breathing turbine, supporting 145km maximum range.

Steve Milano, Director, Air-to-Surface Effects at Raytheon Missles and Defense, pointed to the company’s StormBreaker (in development), a guided, gliding precision munition with a tri-mode seeker, currently in initial operational capability evaluation on USAF F-15Es. He also identified the need to more quickly assess and process data in the sector and to develop layered defences, consisting of more capable space-based sensors and other assets.

Steve Sargeant, CEO at Marvin Test Solutions, presented the case for selectively increasing stockpiles of munitions and weapons at key nodes. He also told delegates the sector needs to consider fielding more capable test equipment, with increased commonality among weapon models.

Marty Kauchak reporting for MON from National Harbor, Maryland