The UK’s SPEAR-3 missile, a next-generation miniature cruise missile, has successfully completed its first guided firing trial.
Developed by MBDA in the UK, SPEAR was fired from a BAE Systems-operated Typhoon jet at the Vidsel test range in Sweden.
The trial marked the first time the missile engaged a target, demonstrating its ability to navigate autonomously and strike with precision using advanced radar-seeker technology. The missile is capable of targeting threats over 100 km away, including air defences, ships, armoured vehicles, and fast-moving platforms.
Planned for eventual integration with the UK’s fleet of F-35B fighter jets, SPEAR will enable flexible strike capabilities from land or sea, including operations from the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. However, the clearance process to use SPEAR on the F-35 is not expected to be completed before 2028, a delay that could limit its deployment in the near term. Furthermore, while the missile’s compact design allows for versatility, its warhead size of less than 50kg and range of around 100 miles are modest compared to other modern weapons systems.
Matthew Brown, SPEAR Team Leader at DE&S, highlighted the significance of the trial, stating: “This trial was a key step on the way to delivering SPEAR to the UK frontline, where it will provide a new capability to defeat the most complex air defence systems, enabling pilots to fly and fight wherever they’re needed in defence of the UK and its allies.”
The missile programme supports hundreds of jobs within MBDA’s UK operations, with design and development centred in Stevenage and Bristol, and manufacturing in Bolton.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard described the achievement as: “a significant leap forward in UK Armed Forces’ capabilities, ensuring our Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel are equipped with cutting-edge technology to protect our nation.” He also noted: “This achievement not only strengthens national defence capabilities but also boosts the UK economy, by supporting high-skilled jobs and innovation.”
The SPEAR programme is part of a £6.5 billion MOD investment in UK weapons development over the next decade, which includes projects such as Brimstone, Sea Viper, and Storm Shadow.
Chris Moon, BAE Systems’ UK Delivery Director for Typhoon Capability, commended the collaboration behind the trial: “This successful firing from Typhoon is as a result of the hard work and outstanding collaboration between MBDA, MoD and BAE Systems personnel over many months.”
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Great to hear, it will significantly improve the UK F-35B strike capability, anyone know when the software update is available to allow them to carry it ?
With Typhoon able to carry just about every weapon we have, should we not be buying more in the current climate ?
What do we have now…..140 fast jets ?
Most days, we have less RAF fast jets available world-wide, than the USAF have at RAF Lakenheath……
It’s not a fair comparison. The US is what five times the size of the UK, and prefers to spend a much higher part of their GDP on weapons at the expense of many things people in the UK take for granted and would sourly miss if we spent as much
“…sourly miss…” 😁👍
A fairly accurate description, I think, whatever was meant 😂
You won’t to build a defence policy based on how many planes your closest ally has instead of how many your likely enemy has?
I think the name for that type of policy is **** measuring.
You might build a strategy on gauging your enemies capability and then overmatching it by 2X? The RuAF would be totally incapably against and NATO or UK/Italy/Poland/Norway/Sweden/Finland/Holland as an alliance. I have left out France [they will want to do it their way with their leadership]; Germany [who will sit on the fence and promise to do a lot and then discover their constitution prevents them from following through]; Spain [who will do whatever is in their best interests at that moment]; Belgium [who will only fight Monday – Thursday 9-5]. Part of the downside of the Ukrainian war is… Read more »
Thoroughly enjoyed your characterization of probable Belgian, German and Spanish responses to possible RuAF threat/action. Believe, however, that you may have been overly solicitous re probable French response. The French have demonstrated before that they are perfectly content to fight to the last drop of American and/or British blood. 🤔😁
RAF don’t need as many planes as USAAF because RAF ARE BETTER
Typhoon is not going to get SPEAR and I think SPEAR is going to rapidly become the most important weapon in the inventory.
Surely we will put Spear on Typhoon?
It has already been integrated for the test programme and MBDA produce CGI of carrying it in a Brimstone-style triple launcher alongside other weapons.
Would be a waste to only have them on F35.
you overestimate the governments desire for common sense and inter-service budget fighting. If anything money should be spent on the absolutely dire recruitment and retention situation, particularly the RN and Infantry
Yes but No unfortunately, no plans for spear on typhoon even though it’s the test aircraft.
SPEAR is too short range for typhoon, typhoon will use FC/ASW / Stormshadow for the same missions in contested air space and Brimestone in non contested.
Contested vs non-contested.
Yeah, real life is so clear cut (eyes roll).
Why would they not as the British government have already spend the money to integrate spear 3 into UK typhoons. There is no indication anywhere that typhoons will not carry spear 3 and as it’s been integrated and a contract in place to purchase in large numbers it’s very likely it will be.
spear is a weapon ranged for a 5th Gen aircraft to attack high end air defences.
FC/ASW will do the same for non stealthy platforms.
For everything else there is Brimestone
Brimstone is not any use for naval engagements, the UK has a fundamental need for its fast jet squadrons to have a naval strike option being as every squadron and front line aircraft is based on one of three strategicly based islands . Spear three would give that.
The typhoon factory is currently sitting idle I would think ordering a few more and putting the first tranche into storage to cover combat losses would be the way ahead
There’s a deal brewing with Turkey for a load. First tranche of of typhoons will have a lot of hours on the airframe and won’t be as capable as new ones. UK gov is also leaning towards more F35s instead. Budgets are a real thing unfortunately
Yes I read about the turkey deal having some in storage would be a good idea though
Problem is when planes cost £100 million each having some in storage is not really viable.
Also they are so delicate and require such high level of maintenance and upgrades that even in storage they cost a fortune and reactivation is also expensive.
Yup your right ashchurch couldn’t even keep a landrover in a servcable condition let alone an As90 or warrior
Tranche 1’s of Typhoons, have limited capabilites, mainly air defence, and still vulnerable to airfield denial munitions.
Yes we should. Another 20/25 Typhoons with ECR/SEAD kit and a similar number of F35’s would set the RN and RAF up for the next decade plus. Chances of it happening? Almost zero.
As the article states,integration of Spear 3 should be completed by 2028,likely 2030 given how these upgrades have been delayed.
I know it’s still Jam tomorrow but with Block IV finally moving and Meteor and SPEAR being incorporated onto our F35B’s, they are going to be quite possibly the most capable weapons systems on the planet.
What’s the latest thinking on when Block IV will be available and is that the same sate as SPEAR3 & Meteor will be integrated – i.e. on the release date due to the integration happening as part of Block IV development – or will there be S & M integration work still to be done after the official release date in which case when do we expect those weapons to be operational on the UK F-35Bs?
2027 ish I believe but provisions are being made for a slip to as late as 2030.
2030 earliest, plans to integrate up to 12 per Typhoon
This is the one weapon I’m most interested in. In theory it should be as capable in saturation attacks against high value assets, as it is versatile against low value targets.
Imo the typhoon should not be retired by the late 2030s. Typhoons are probably a better asset than the F35 in most scenarios we’d face. They also are able to carry more weapons to the f35. Why doesn’t the government order 24 more typhoon’s as both platforms suit different types of scenarios we face. Look at the American’s and they still ordering f15s despite having more modern aircraft
Because were not america, which means were broke. Only new fighter jets being ordered are another 20 or so F35s.
That depends on the defence uplift that The Donald forces on us. Paying for 24 Typhoon over a 6 year production isn’t really the issue. £340m / annum uplift to RAF budgets won’t really have that much impact on public finances and it is the same sort of money as a T31 every year. The thing we are all forgetting is that uplifting numbers isn’t linear in costs. You don’t simply divide the running costs by the number of units and linearly scale. Once you have established OCU etc increasing throughput is a lot cheaper. Binning Typhoon T1 saved money… Read more »
You are broke not for the lack of money, you are broke because you spend a lot of money in crap.
You are absolutely right but that term ‘budget’ and how best to use it is the bugbear sadly. Just can’t see Typhoon, F-35 and Tempest development all getting funding as much as it’s all desirable. We may recognise the threats, the Govt might recognise the threats even but as Andrew says selling the idea of ideal defence expenditure to a public demanding investment in things closer to their immediate (real or perceived) needs is near on impossible and an eye of the next election is constant to politicians certainly beyond the 1st 6 months in power and the honeymoon period… Read more »
There is no chance the typhoons are being retired in the late 2030s. Any realistic assessment and risk around the introduction of a 6th generation replacement for typhoon will would clearly put the likelihood of tempest being ready for front line deployment by 2035 as very unlikely to rare…its more likely to have a 2040 date..then its got be introduced first in a test and evaluation squadron, then as an OCU finally the first front line squadron can be in place…if the RAF is lucky it will get a first front line squadron by 2045…And have maybe 30 airframes…then let’s… Read more »
You gotta be right, even if all goes perfectly and started to be operational 2035/6 it would be a very slow process getting many into service before the 40s and that’s an unlikely best case scenario I suspect. A complex aircraft like this isn’t going to be shooting off the production lines and as it will need to be a very long programme like the F-35 will need a controlled and manageable long term production levels certainly unless there are serious export orders to build in but then that too has its own effect on demand and supply issues.
If you look at typhoon it was 84 when the tec demonstrator flew, 96 when the first prototype flew, 98 for the production contract, 2003 for the stand up of the test evaluation squadron, 2006 for the OCU and 2008 for the first front line squadron to be declared initial operational capability… that was 24 years from first flight of demonstrator to first front line squadron… so 3035 is not when they will have a front line squadron… infact my timeline is a conservative one…
A superior solution would be to buy more F-35.
From a pure capability point of view maybe. But defence of a nation is not just about the kit it’s about the nations ability to arm itself and its industrial capacity and if we ever want to actually build a 6th generation fighter we need to keep the typhoon production line running. So if your thinking tactics then f35 is good if your thinking geostrategic advantage then typhoon is the correct decision and a nation that does not think strategically is on the way to lossing the next existentixal war.
Also cheaper believe it or not. From what I see the f-35 is $40 million cheaper than a Typhoon so you can actually get 3 F-35’s for the same price as 2 Typhoons.
The thing is though. The industrial knowledge and experience from F35 will bring more benefits to Tempest than Typhoon. We have that 5th gen experience now. The advantage of being a Tier 1 partner regardless of how many F35s we eventually purchase. Typhoon development is important to Tempest, especially to de-risk certain systems. But the F35 industrial experience is truly priceless for the success of Tempest.
Does this new missile fit in the weapons bay of the F35B? Otherwise if its pylon mounted it defeats the reason to buy a stealth jet. Look at another way if you have 4 of these hanging from the wings it will make the jet much more easily detected. Also the article talks as if it is just a small step to get it integrated into the F35B system . Unless there is a much wider demand for its integration (USAF would help) it will take years for Lockheed (and DOD) to put on the critical list for integration. Also… Read more »
8 will fit internally in the F-35B, as well as 2 Meteors but that does mean any ASRAAM will have to go on the wings. Integration will happen under the block 4 update. Yes our current F-35Bs will need to be retrofitted with update.
Asraam never got integrated internally
Originally ASRAAM was suppose to go on stealthy wing mounted pylons but those got dropped along with the stealthy fuel tanks.
And yet UK F35b carry ASRAAM on Stealthy Wing mounted Pylons !.
There are images online of our F35s carrying ASRAAM on the wings, on those funny bent pylons near the wingtips.
What makes you think those have been cancelled?
Search “UK F35 Beast Mode”
SPEAR has been in the critical list along with Meteor for 15 years now, it was always slated from Block IV integration.
The USAF cannot help with such programs as it’s completely outside of DoD control and entirely up to LM.
” ..completely outside of DoD control and entirely up to LM”
Don’t be ridiculous.
A deal of excitement for weapon that is at least 30 years out of date.
Enlighten me?
The issue is WRT F35 is; firstly TR3 is in all sorts of trouble with multi year delays – The first aircraft only have a training capability with no confirmed timescale for full TR3 deployment, other than some time in 2025.
As TR3 is the ‘Backbone’ for Block 4 deliveries and the integration of newer weapons, sensors data processing etc everything is being pushed back. This also means that newer US weapons such as AIM260 will be integrated before Meteor and SPEAR £ which will probably not be operationally cleared until 2030+
The issue here is that US will not integrate a superior foreign weapon on F35 (and open the user base to foreign competition) until the US has cleared a competitive weapon. By this simple methodology they effectively control the market for any of their platforms. The UK faced the same issue when ASRAAM was fitted and launched from F16. The US suppressed and refused to release any information to prevent anyone buying a non US solution. Apache is the same! the UK was forced to buy JAGM as the quote for Brimstone installation on Apache was astronomic. At that juncture… Read more »
Is dissapointing the trial was conducted in Sweden, and not on the UK’s own MOD air ranges, further utilising sovereign test and evaluation capabilities within our supply chain.
Everything moves so slow.