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.
Sounds like a better solution for the UK. We need to be encouraging our own production to ensure we’re front of the line when we need it.
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.
🤡
The twin use of the word “there”
So not British, but a foreign Troll trying to demotivate, and demoralize.
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.
I’m actually not really sure about this low cost air defence missile.. it seems answering a question that has not really been asked.. SHORAD is actually a an area we already have lots of the answers for..Starstreak HMV is very very good missile already in service in the 7km range.. it’s 80,000 a pop but I bet if HMG just ordered a shit ton the price could be dropped like a stone.. ( the more they buy the cheaper it is). Then there is Martlet.. an 8km range kill anything missile at about 50,000 a pop.. again the more ordered the cheaper the price will be..
LEAP was about low cost effectors not just missiles and the cheapest low cost effectors for drones seem to be other drones.. anti drone drones may be the way forward.. mass protection.. anyone can launch them.. if you want to protect a power station against a long range cheap mass attack type drone, a cheap doppar drone radar will give you detection out to about 12km ( giving you 4 mins Warning for a Shahed type drone ) and then a couple of guys with anti drone drones..like the Strila at 2000 pounds a pop.. the thing is you can mass train civil defence volunteers for this.. so you can cover your wider civil infrastructure against attack and degradation ( which is what Russia has been doing to Ukraine).
Good thinking Capt Mainwaring. Definitely a job for the Home Guard 🙂
Yep in the end if your in a peer war it’s about smashing the enemy nation and not having your nation smashed..
It’s the warrior and sword analogy.. the armed forces are the sword.. but the warrior is the nation.. disarm a warrior he will find another weapon.. break his spirit or killing him is the only way.. and you win a peer war by killing a nation or breaking its political will to fight…you do that by killing its infrastructure ( as Russia is doing to Ukraine).. you keep fighting because of the political will to fight… that’s old farts on rooftops of power stations and factories with anti drone equipment.. that’s people in white helmets digging people out of rubble.. it’s people volunteering to work in overcrowded acute hospitals etc…. Civil resilience is something we seem to have completely forgotten in the west… your population has to be ready and up for the fight.. or your nation will fold like a pack of cards no matter how strong your armed forces… I fear the west may be heading for this exact problem…
I have no skills to speak of military wise, as have never served.
But I would happily volunteer for a Civil Defence Corps if such were ever formed.
The study was only started 2 weeks ago. What were people expecting?
I feel like these headlines are rage bait for engagement. You could run the sam article every day until a decision is made. Maybe that’s OK a few months from now, but 2 weeks is a bit soon to be critical.
Rage bait on UKDJ?!? Surely not… 😏
No-one will ever convince me there isn’t vast corruption in UK military procurement. First, TPTB don’t want to spend the money so they simply commission studies and reviews, then reviews of the reviews (where they get paid handsomely for their time, whether or not anything goes anywhere).
Finally, whatever doesn’t get turned down enters a kind of development hell with orders placed, cancelled, chopped down, then eventually we pay twice the original unit price for half the number of units. This of course is thanks to the problems, delays, vast overruns of costs and behind-the-scenes conflict, glossed over with BS from Labour spokespersons about how it’s all going to plan. Which it actually is, given how many rolls of £ notes are flowing into their pockets.
🤡
Why are there so many prats like you on this site?
Because accused of that by a conspiracy minded fruitcake like yourself is a compliment. 🤷🏻♂️
Well in the absence of any intelligent counterpoint from yourself other than to attack me – the ad hominem pratfall – I’ll stick to my “conspiracy” thanks 👍🏻
The onus is upon the person making the allegations to prove this conspiracy. It’s not possible to prove something doesn’t exist, only that things do exist. If you understood basic logic, philosophy, or jurisprudence, you’d understand that.
But you’re an idiot 🤷🏻♂️
I am stating my opinion based on observation and there are countless stories available to support it. Was there an element of exaggeration in there? Perhaps. But the accusations of conspiracy came from YOU, therefore I’m not sure why you expect me to try to prove your own point. But then, of course, I’m an idiot and unable to grasp your kind of logic.
So basically, hearsay and gossip… 😂
No the accusations came from you, and if that’s the best proof you’ve got then you’re a bigger idiot than your first appeared.
Another reply, another worthless stream of trash. Too many trolls in these comments with nothing to say, but they’re going to say it anyway.
I’m relatively new to this subject but already seem to know more about military acquisition than you. I feel like a student teaching the alphabet to their teacher, except their teacher’s, I don’t know, brain damaged or just ridiculously ignorant or something.
If you’re struggling with the big words and weighty concepts, get someone to read it to you and invest in a thesaurus.
If you want proof of anything I’ve said, do us all a favour and actually read up on British military procurement. Arm yourself with some facts and you may find you don’t need to steam in with silly name-calling like some random noob whose mum and dad only just let him onto the internet.
Another long diatribe of whinging, whining, insults and ZERO facts.
Another liar who doesn’t like it when he’s challenged.
No rush. The world is nice and stable. There’s nothing going on anywhere that’s of concern. 🤡
I seriously doubt that any Israeli missile would be available “off the shelf” in the current circumstances, nor for some considerable time thereafter.