The Ministry of Defence has said a decision on whether the UK will procure a proposed new low-cost air defence missile has not yet been taken, as the programme is still in its early development phase.
In a written parliamentary answer, Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed that the project is currently entering a concept demonstration stage under the LEAP initiative announced earlier this year.
The question, tabled by Conservative MP James Cartlidge, asked whether the Ministry of Defence plans to procure the new surface-to-air missile referenced in a government announcement about a joint UK and European effort to develop low-cost air defence weapons.
Responding, Pollard said the programme remains at an exploratory stage and that procurement decisions will only follow once initial work has been completed.
“The low-cost air defence effector project under the LEAP initiative, as announced on 20 February, is entering the concept demonstration phase,” he said.
The minister explained that the next step will involve evaluating the concept before any commitment to acquire the system is made.
“Once that initial phase of work has been completed, a decision will be taken on whether to progress to procurement.”
The initiative, announced in February, aims to develop lower-cost air defence systems capable of countering emerging aerial threats while reducing the reliance on expensive interceptors traditionally used for missile defence. Such systems are increasingly seen as necessary to counter large numbers of drones and other relatively inexpensive aerial threats.
The LEAP programme is being pursued with European partners as part of wider efforts to strengthen NATO air and missile defence while improving affordability and scalability of interceptor systems.
The way our weapon procurement usually goes we would be lucky if it is ready by the mid 2030s
Why don’t we buy just off the shelf e.g. the Israeli Iron dome missile, Tamir isn’t that expensive and is tried and tested
Granted its not the longest range missile, but still its cost makes it a decent idea for a 70km umbrella for UK military sites
We have a British alternative to Tamir in the form of the Cambridge Aerospace Starhammer (it’s practically a direct knockoff but with an active radar seeker).
“Starhammer” Now that’s a metal as hell name, but after a cursory look it seems to have a rather limp 20km range.
Also it is projected to cost around the same $50000 per missile as Tamir
That’s more range than Tamir, but practically the whole supply chain is based in Britain so the actual cost to government relative to a foreign purchase would be a lot lower as the money goes round and round the economy.
As mentioned, apparently the latest Tamir’s can reach up to 70km (probably cost more). Plus unlike waiting for the production line to be set up for Starhammer, we can buy Tamir off the shelf once this current pest control with Iran is over
What about any further “UK” developments of Starstreak, LMM. CAMM and even the ground launched Raven/Gravehawk ASRAAM? They’ve all surely got potential for a bit of extra ER treatment?
I’m just thinking of costs and the UK defence sector is notorious for cost overruns and delays.
Tamir is a great short range missile for a competitive price and an existing production line.
That’s just not true or physically possible. CAMM is a heavier, less draggy, more expensive missile than Tamir and at the absolute maximum only has a rumoured range around 40km. What Tamir can do is destroy artillery rockets that have been fired from 70km away in their terminal phase.
Tamir’s range is very vague but looks to be in the 7-12km bracket so less than the upper estimate for Starhammer, which I suspect is optimistic and more like 10km against the cruise missiles it is designed for.
Oh but in the previous article it states that investments decisions are not being held up by DIP……which don’t I believe…..
Decision yet to be made. What a shock!!
Just more blah blah blah.
Besides Labour are vandalising the British military so there is no need for air defence there and the UK is fast becoming a third world s^*thole so nothing will be worth protecting there either.
Oh, look its the same old waffle
Must be another 2030 decision
Blether blether, same old tosh and nothing is done. Starmer is looking like a started rabbit in the headlights, he has no idea what to do about the lunatic Trumps Iranian adventure. He clearly has no clue what he is talking about when anything defence related comes up. Best he went back to being a do gooder at the bar helping psychopaths avoid deportation.
‘Decision yet to be made’.
Again.
And again.
And again.
We’ll still be dithering when the bombs fall on London.