Written answers published this week confirm that Project Brakestop, the UK’s effort to field a low-cost long-range one-way strike system, remains “broadly on track”.
Responding to Conservative MP James Cartlidge, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the programme’s timeline had been “highly ambitious from the outset†but that “flight trials are broadly on track.†In a separate answer, he stated that the Ministry of Defence has “no defined in-service date for Project BRAKESTOP†and that production contracts are planned for 2026 following upcoming trials.
Brakestop is intended to deliver a “One-Way Effector (OWE) Heavy†capable of striking targets at more than 500 km from a mobile land launcher. The MoD has left the solution open, inviting proposals ranging from missile-like weapons to drone-based strike systems, so long as they can fly ballistic or low-level cruise trajectories, carry a 200–300 kg payload and navigate in GPS-denied, EW-contested environments.
According to earlier procurement documents, the system is expected to reach around 600 km/h and be produced at a minimum rate of 20 units per month, with a target cost of £400,000 per effector. The requirement stresses survivability, rapid deployment and an ability to operate in harsh multispectral and electromagnetic conditions.
Industry proposals were originally scheduled to produce a first demonstration firing in 2025, with serial production potentially following soon after. The latest parliamentary answers make clear that although the MoD is not ready to set an in-service date, it intends to move ahead with production contracting next year.
Pollard said additional details would follow once flight trials conclude and the department is confident in the system’s viability.
So here we go again! Despite many systems already in use and some battle tested we have to go onto this sodding merry go round of developing our own niche missile,probably at greater cost than just adopting a proven system🤬
I think to be fair we don’t have this capability at present UK long range group based precision fires are 70km range fires and that is it.. essentially tactical in nature.. this is essentially giving the army a conventional strategic capability. And in this case there is a lost nothing in western arsenals that would fire a 200-300kg payload 500km , the very best that the west fields at present is ATACM and that is a 300km range and it’s all US made and the US are just as likely to tell us we cannot fire it at someone as not… the US like us are just in the middle of developing a 500km range replacement for ATACM
So sorry we do actually have to invest in this and no we cannot just get a a battle proven system.
Yes we have to invest but WHEN? Yet Ukraine a country that is getting battered daily can design missiles like flamingo,Neptune etc and get them into service and flying into Russia with the distance and payloads you mention! They now even have their own ballistic missiles while we do yet another study!
This yet again will be blah blah for years and probably go nowhere!
Yes but they have actually said it is essentially a live and immediate essentially as soon as industry has a product we will buy it… the reality is this product does not exist yet they have asked industry to whip it. Up. And they will make a production purchase in 2026.. not 2030.. let’s not flame when there is no reason to flame… clearly this is an agile project so it’s not going to have the we will have 2 regiments worth by June 2030 type traditional MOD project management goals.
And do you want to know what is really funny the FP-5 Flamingo and the FP-5 missile advertised by defence industry startup Milanion Group at IDEX 2025 are essentially 90% identical.. and guess where the Milanion group limited is based in the UK and UAE.. essentially it’s a UK developed missile.. that Ukraine “somehow†got hold of and finished development of.. and it’s 100%assembled in Ukraine….
So as this was essentially UK MIC IP there is only one sovereign authority that allowed it to be finished in Ukraine. Why do you think Russia hates our guts so much and is coming for us.
Good to know we are doing something like that. More please.
By the sound of things it will be something less powerful than the Ukraine systems, as they are focused on it being cheap. I assume it’s going to be some form of drone based system.
I like the vaguely on track but no planned in service date. How can you judge progress if you dont have a deadline to judge against.
Come on Jacko this particular requirement is actually progressing at pace (if we can believe what’s being said) we only heard about it earlier this year. You can’t compare this to the Ukranians, the Neptune had been in development for years though at snail pace for a while due to lack of funds and re energised by the war, it is a development of old Soviet designs, much of which Ukraine was responsible for so retained the skills to do so quite quickly. Flamingo is a very clever exploitation using similar skills of adapting many hundreds of old Soviet turbo jets that had been literally dumped in a pit many years back and applied to a simple missile body. Brilliant in the circumstances but rather simple exploitation of existing or easily constructed elements and no doubt supported by western help where required for guidance etc. However it’s not known how many have been built or used as yet, clearly the Ukranians trumpet their capabilities and rightfully so. Flamingo is probably a great bonus for the immediate need to strike deep but it’s a product of the moment not I suspect a product for longer term planning.
Yes we need something as soon as possible but it needs to have longer term planning and contingency too, it needs to be able to be developable, produced in numbers (and expandable) over at least the next twenty years or so, especially as a lot of support equipment will be required for it too.
And finally as already stated it needs to be predominantly uk sourced and certainly not with US ITAR restrictions (or on/off switches) it is clear that the US might even become an adversary in the future as things stand, the present regime has clearly set itself on a Monroe inspired track on steroids where it thinks a World dominated by 3 factions can serve it best, with the rest of the World compliant to their needs (how very George Orwell) and Europe is now deemed part of Russias sphere of vital interest. This US philosophy I fear is likely to come and go to lesser or greater degree beyond Trump. It’s worth noting that Canada is building its own citizen army asap to act as ‘Minutemen’ in the prospect of sudden threat. That’s almost entirely due to their own fear of an invasion from the South something unthinkable till now. All of us have to revise our thinking and how we organise defence and what we buy and produce accordingly. This project seems to be one of the more logical and appropriately organised ones even if it can never be too fast in terms of need.
Don’t get me wrong if someone was to tell me “ I told you so†then I would be delightedðŸ‘
As for Canada how we could even think about staying out of that is beyond me! Very concerning times where trump is involved!
Just to add IF trump was to move on Canada or Greenland both the Canadians or Dane’s would invariably invoke Article 5!
It is very ironic as one of the discussions I have a law
Always had about long to geostrategic and geopolitical trends is the fact Canada could one day fall victim to its larger southern neighbour.. there are some long term drivers around food security and global warming that will only get worse.. if we hit a 4 degree warming window a lot of the middle of the continental United States essentially becomes unliveable and most definitely no use for food production.. and Canada becomes better and better real estate.. in the global warming stakes there will be winners and losers and Canada will be a great big winner and the US a loser… MAGA America is not likely to be rational about that.
MoD Strategic Analysis teams were considering ‘water wars’ 20 years ago! I remember having a conversation with one of my colleagues and being quite surprised that someone was being that forward thinking.
Years later in a different life outside of defence I did a little study on China’s environmental protection agency and it’s lack of effectiveness regarding water. The damage China’s textile dye industry (amongst others) was / is doing to their water supplies is horrendous. It makes our water companies look like saints..! Workers in the paddy fields now have to wear wellies or the water will strip the skin off their feet over time as it has become so acidic..! This was about 10 years ago now and I don’t imagine it has got any better! (They still harvest the rice, by the way..!)
Sooner of later China could find itself needing water from neighbours! Factor in the fact that all of the big rivers in Asia from the Indus to the Yellow River are constantly fed from Himalayan glaciers which are receding rapidly and it doesn’t much imagination to realise that water supplies and rice production are going to be seriously affected by climate change. Thirsty and hungry populations tend to get a tad irritable and bolshy. Some the CCP takes very seriously!
In short, water wars are likely to be a thing by the end of this century, possibly even the middle of the century. Given Europe is the only continent to not have a desert (officially at least) and currently has plenty of water and you can see how things might turn out…
Cheers CR
Yes I did see a risk assessment around climate change and wars.. people tend to forget that essentially climate change will mean many nations simply will need to up sticks and move en mass or die.. and they are not going to go quite and civilised like. It’s why I think Russia has undertaken a slow road to suicide.. China will use it and get it to split the west.. but in the long run China will attempt to take Siberia one way or another.. it can only go north.. Russias best bet for long term survival was always make a strong alliance with European nations…
I have always said that the really scary moment will be when and if Chinese troops deploy west of the Ural Mountains. I can see that happening, ostensibly to support Russia’s efforts to push NATO out of the Baltic States for example. Such a deployment would fulfill a dual role, a) encourage Russia to push westwards and, b) to put Chinese troops in a position intimidate / act against Russia to force some kind of concession on Siberia or the Northern Resource Region in Chinese parlance.
Given the US attitude to three zones of influence, China would push for greater access to central and eastern Russia. Europe will need to ramp up it’s capabilities or face a Russia effectively being pushed westwards by China on it’s own.
The other side of the coin is US deciding they need all their production for themselves.
This is something that should be sovereign. A mid cost ballistic just as we have mid cost CAMM.
Even ukraine in the mess it is in now can get a system into service. The priority here as always is just pumping money into industry rather than buying actual hardware.
The mess it is in now is why it can and is getting systems into operation a lot with Western help mind, the uk being at the forefront, Brimstones from covered vans, ASRAAMS from the back of Supercats and Martlets used before it was officially passed into service. We have to remember however that Ukraine was the centre for much of Soviet arms production even if much of it is in areas held by Russia now. A lot of skills and capabilities there that’s being exploited and lots of Soviet equipment still to take advantage of.
Jacko is pissed because he thinks it should be an RAF job.
Oh no I’m not😂😂
Sure
“Broadly on track…….no defined in service date”.
In politician speak, ‘broadly’ means ‘not really’.
It means only a few of the meetings to talk about it have been cancelled or postponed.
This is good news indeed.. yes a bit vague.. but they are clearly trying to pound ahead as quickly as possible and if your running fast at risk programmes dates will always be vague.. if they are moving to production in 2026 then I’m happy for vague and for it to slip a bit. They could have simply stated we will have it in service for June 2030 and then spent 5 years testing it changing the spec and gold plating it…let’s not all get pissy because the MOD are trying to be agile.
Indeed. Some negative comments on here when it is a real example of the MOD reacting to the SDSR quickly.
“Increase its options for threatening retaliation—whether developed nationally or with allies—to convince a potential adversary that the cost of its actions will outweigh the potential benefits.”
The SDSR calls for the developed of a range of options. This is one of them. Good news I say.
Today’s winner of the trophy for sensible commentary with additional insight and information in a sea of trolls, bots, vatniks, and cynical prophets of doom. ðŸ‘ðŸ»
True, but I think the cynical among us look back at our recent purchases, or rather lack thereof, and how often the stuff we have actually bought works and take a Ill believe it when I see it approach. Personally I think we should be aiming for something a lot less than 400k per shot.
Given the volume that may be required against an enemy like Russia with lots of space to spread targets out, I agree 400k per shot is way too much. We need something in the region of 50k to 100k – at the top end I’d want it so accurate that no follow up would ever be required.
Absolutely Jonathon we have to be realistic this programme seems to be as positive as we can expect as things stand. It seems to be progressing from a standing start very quickly to my mind (even if we are understandably cynical), a project t a year ago I never expected us to initiate and simply rely upon the US dangerously in my mind. I’m rather intrigued indeed to think how such a capability can actually come to fruition in this timescale. So fo now I will try to be positive.
If you look at it a lot of these capabilities are thinks UK companies have been developing behind closed doors for Ukraine.. the 2000-2500km strike capability.. it just so happens Ukraine has a 2500km land based cruise missile just in operations that is essentially 90% similar ( externally) to a missile a UK company was showing off at the beginning of the year….
If you look up the Milanion Group FP-5 cruise missile ( a UK limited company) and then look up the Ukrainian FP-5 “Flamingo“ it’s um a remarkable coincidence 🤷
So when the UK says it’s going to have a 2000-2500 km strike weapon with an improbable timescale.. it’s because basically it’s already been designed and is being fine tuned…
I suspect it’s the same with this 500km range missile and the 20 a month production.. that’s for Ukraine as the UK is not at war and does not need 250 a year belted out as yet..so I bet Ukraine is already messing with the prototypes .
The only difference will be that the UKR version has stripped back sensors etc so we are not giving the latest versions away.
Yep.. and in reality Ukraine does not want that.. they want cheap and fast .. we have not yet had four years of peer war on our on soil so we are willing and need to spend money on small CEPs to reduce civilian deaths, that tends to become less and less important the more your own country gets smashed in.
Fire Point do 90% of the final assembly of the FP-5 in the Ukraine. But the design and rest of the manufacturing of the missile is Milanion Group.
“broadly on trackâ€. meaning when ever, may be, some day. no firm date, need more meetings and round table chats might buy might not. Getting there?. Its the right path to go down but like so much its so vague a lot projects but no kit yet. Germany very recently ordered 200 plus RCH 155 us ? None. Says it all.
2000 Patria armoured vehicle ordered in principal with Babcock saying they will build them!166 RCH 155s ordered in principle!
AGAIN NO firm orders🤬it’s all talk!
Perhaps when their are FIRM orders the negative posts might actually stop!
Same issue with NMH helicopter orders – details of which are leaking out from Norway. I did think that the curve balls of Argus and Ajax might be the cause of delays but I’ve also heard reporters say that the Treasury won’t allow Healey to announce the DIP because ‘they can’t make the numbers add up.’ Frustration is setting in with suppliers. E.g Leonardo and Yeovil. We were promised an announcement in autumn!
Let’s hope the fact that the Russians are says it’s now not if but when they fire a nuclear weapon at the UK, now that is just sabre rattling but when will it start to filter into the heads of the treasury that the political warfare we have had for a decade is now at any moment possible to tip into actual warfare and it’s more and more likely the first shots fired at a NATO country may just be at the UK.
I think an overt attack on the UK is unlikely. Ditto for any nation not within the post ww2 Soviet block. But we should expect gray zone hybrid attacks and possibly sabotage. This is why commentators are starting to talk about a wartime mindset and a whole population involvement e.g increased cyber security, disruption to and additional resilience built into basic services – fuel, transport, food, medical, communications. Jaguar – Land Rover cyber attack?
There are reports Trump is proposing that 4 countries should leave the EU. No doubt Putin has given him a shopping list. Trump sees the successful EU as an economic threat to the US e.g. Airbus vs Boeing. Putin sees the EU as a cultural threat to Russian stability based on his leverage of the Orthodox church, which gives him a convenient cultural and historical justification for returning Ukraine under Russian dominance. He wants Kyiv; he wants to rebuild Imperial Russia and re-create the Eastern European buffer layer of soviet influence which obtained before the fall of the Berlin wall. Both leaders are gunning for the EU. Hungary and Slovakia still buy Russian gas. Take a look at the map central Europe. If Trump succeeds in detaching them from the EU then Bulgaria, Romania and the Balkans look vulnerable to being cut off from the core of the EU.
I’m not so sure anymore.. I think Putin is now constantly assessing NATO for potential political fracture.. I think if he thought he could throw a conventional attack at a UK asset and any NATO response was shambolic and possibly split NATO then he might just give it a go.. yes the nuclear is just sabre rattling.. a drone strike against UK shipping.. I think he may just do that and if he thinks the European land powers and US would be slow to react… the thing is he knows a land invasion of NATO soil will get a wide response.. but a sea based attack on a nation that is not in the EU and out on the periphery.. Would NATO go to war ? I’m no longer sure.. and he has some evidence after all he did essentially attack a UK town with a weapon of mass destruction ( a nerve agent) killing an innocent UK citizen and causing life changing injuries to a UK police man.. and NATO itself really did nothing.
I think you are correct about the EU essentially it’s clear now the US is essentially waging a political war against the EU to reduce it as a power block and wants friendly relations with Russia.. The EU is under threat by another NATO member.. there are now a number of NATO members that want friendly relations with Russia.. the UK is both seen as the number one enemy of Russia in the west and no longer a member of the EU..
Personally I think NATO is in essential having emergency treatment for a set of catastrophic conditions that may kill it.. the US and EU are setting to become political enemies, the US is trying to develop a friendly neutral state with Russia, the EU sees the UK as a competitor and outside its core set of nations to promote and protect and Russia sees us as enemy number one and the nation it most wants to make an example of.. I simply no longer think the UK can make an assumption NATO will be its core protection.. yes I think we need to keep administering first aid and hopping ( the nato first policy) but in all that our investment needs to be with a knowledge that is now a realistic possibility we may face a war with Russia as the EU and US stand back and NATO is consigned to history… a simple historical indisputable fact ALL alliances end.
The EU is not a single political sovereign state like the US. Starmer, Merz, Macron and Mark Rutte have done a good defensive job for Ukraine. I agree the UK is Putin’s public enemy one and disruption to our undersea comms, satellite links, water, IT systems will grow. The EU as an institution has been powerless and it will get weaker if Trump persuades a few countries to leave and choose to be US vassal states. Events seem to be leading to the real ‘governing’ power in Europe consolidating on a series of defence pacts between the 4 major military powers: the UK, France, Germany and Poland.
They will, most just want see hard facts and orders than wishy washy words and if may be thats all. Less whaffle and smoke and mirrors and just get on with it. 14 older wheeled Archers is a joke thats all we have and 2 up graded MLRS A2s, we gave away every thing else which was a great idea.
We have 43 M270 MLRS with a further 61 on order from the USA, with a possibility of a further 15 being ordered.
we have 2 M270 A2 MLRS, the rest are un modified 30 plus years old, the up graded 6 B1 ones used in Afghan were gifted to Ukraine. the bog standed base model can not fire long range GPS guided ammo only M28 and AT2. We used to have 62 at the start but One was damaged in an training fire 49 KJ 07, and one was deformed by a mine, 4 Reme vehicles. The last one built 49 KJ 09 signed for by me and like the rest it has never been up graded. To fire new ammo it needs a new FCS/FCP/LDS and likely the 600 BHP engine rather than the current 500bhp 14.5 Litre engine and new transmision.
Insert a dot after the www to get a URL – seem to be the only way to avoid site pending purgatory wwwarmy-technology.com/news/british-armys-latest-m270a2-mlrs-induction-underway
Thank you i will check it out, But be careful what the MOD says is going on. They bend the truth. There are only 2 up graded as of now, the full contract for all to be done has not yet been signed. I know the people trialing them.
The base MLRS is not fitted with GPS, and the parts needed to fire guided ammo. Thats why only see photos of it fIring RRPR the pods with the yellow cap ends. M28 bomblet is not allowed any more due to its fail rate.
I think we need to be a little bit careful.. you have just flamed the Uk government for saying it’s going to get a long range precision fires system building by 2026.. a capability that does not even exist anywhere in the west at all and yet lauded the German government for saying its ordered 229 155mm self propelled guns… ( a capability that exists all over the place with May off the self options) but it’s going to make a whole new 155mm self propelled gun platform ( when there are loads out there) sticking it on the most expensive 6 wheeled armoured vehicle ever made and yes it will have all 229 in service for 2028 out to 2034 ( years away) and just to be even more clear the German government has not yet made that firm order for 229 or even authorised the 3.9 billion it will cost.. infact the truly funny bit is this is a joint UK German programme and its very likely that the UK government and Germany government will commit to firm orders of the 155mm gun system at exactly the same time. Personally I think it’s the wrong system and we should have just ordered more archers are they are more air and strategically mobile and exist now.
We need a like button 🙂
Its about the fact what the RCH 155 is Based on Boxer , that makes sense. The 6×6 archer is not made any more ours are also not up graded like other already we are dropping behind to save a few £. I do agree alone RCH 155 is not enough you need a tracked SPG. And what ever we buy is years away unless we pic K9 which is built very fast.
RCH 155 is better than Ceasar/M109, buy far, cheaper then Pz2000. K9 was offrered but no picked. What do you say we should buy?
I think the issue was RCH155 was not so much picked as forced.. there was no assessment made of what could be built when for what cost.. essentially it was a behind closed doors.. personally I would pick the quickest cheapest that could alsovdevelop an industrial base in the UK ( most would do a uk build from unit x).
I have heard it was not the RA’s choice the K9 was, not sure how much truth is in that though. Its a good system mounted on Boxer so part of it makes sense but having no tracked SPG is a just cost saving and a stupid idea that will come back on the MOD one day.
Real question is why no orders of any thing, hints hear say, rumours but no kit orders, why is the DIP delayed not that every thing asked for will ever be ordered and many on here will be less than happy with fudge that the DIP will be.
I think it’s becoming more and more obvious the delay in the DIP is around treasury orthodox behaviour and a refusal to see the reality of a world about to be plunged into not one but two major catastrophe wars… hopefully Russia state sponsored media coming out and essentially say it’s not now if but when Russia fires a nuclear weapon at the UK may start to allow the truth to sink in.. this is not a March 23, 1932 moment or the 1935 rearmament white paper.. or the 1936 rearmament programme kicking in.. it’s not even 1938 an a pretend in our time ( as we not so secretly sharpened our swords).. this is 1939.. unfortunately the treasury are still acting like it’s 1930 and arguing the toss on if the 10 year rule should be suspended or not…. Scary as hell to be honest.. the simple truth is this present discussion and focus should have occurred by 2014.. 2010 was our 1930 moment..
I do agree, heads in the sand, and hope it goes away. Not wanting to pay for kit and then if the money does come it will be may be too little to late. I do not see our Army doing much as it has bugger all to do it with. It will be the old Eastern europeans and Germany holding the line.
Defence is great to talk and bang on about but governments hate paying for it. We have a pound land MOD any thing as long as its cheap and looks good in statement very, very sad times. Any thing ordered is a min 2/3 years away even if rushed. And the numbers needed will never be ordered.
And yes the DIP delay is about money any thing else is a lie and smoke screen, we can not have all 3 services at the strength needed pick the one you want to be good at the cost of the others.
Let’s cool the criticism of Treasury as they *might* just have a point.
MOD, like transport, submit low ball numbers to get projects funded.
Numbers take off and black holes appear. Sensible projects are cut to pay for the massive ones.
Now it could just be that TreasuryMan[TM] is actually injecting common sense and pragmatism into this debate?
I’m sticking with the treasury.. if you look at defence spending it’s now actually slipped back a bit as taps have not been turned on.. orthodoxy at its best.
Picked partly because there will be a U.K. production line.
I think the definitive answer will come possibly next year, when Ukraine start fielding RCH against Russia. Ukraine has already received their first orders, which are being used for trials and training by Germany and Ukraine. Ukraine have officially ordered 54, but have said they have an option for ordering more. I do feel Ukraine’s need is currently greater than the UK’s, so they should rightly get priority in deliveries. However, Rheinmetall have also said the the RCH will be built in the UK, but not really expanded on if this is just building the hull and putting the system together with a delivered turret or building the full system?
Personally, I always liked the Archer and thought mounting the turret on the MAN 8×8 chassis was an obvious choice for the Army. The RCH does have some advantages over the Archer, in that it has a bigger magazine capacity (30 vs 21), turret can rotate 360 degrees to fire the gun in any direction, doesn’t need to deploy stabilizers and can fire on the move. The Boxer chassis also provides more protection to the crew. The Archer does have a slightly faster rate of fire, which is probably down to a more stable gun platform due to the outriggers. As the Boxer’s firing computer needs to detect how the vehicle is swaying/bouncing and probably fire when the suspension is dwelling on the up stroke.
Ukraine’s experience of using Archer in Ukraine is quite telling. As they prefer the system to Caesar, as it offers significantly better crew protection against drones. Plus it has better range than most other SPGs apart from the Pz2000s. Caesar, does not use a fully automated loading system like Archer’s or the RCH, so some crew have to stand next to the breech when loading. Leaving them open to attack.
Firing on the move is a gimmick. Much too inaccurate to be useful.
Our need is great 14 now un updated Archers thats it, At best 8 would be deployed the rest back in the UK for follow on crew training. 8 guns for the entire Army what clever leader thinks thats good oh add 2 yes just 2 MLRS A2’s so far. All B1s were gifted to Ukraine.
The last MLRS 49 KJ 09 has not been up dated since 1993 apart from software up dates, like the rest of the fleet, it over 30 years . I know i signed for it when it was delivered it was my launcher.
There are 61 M270 on order from the US for the UK.
No there are not, up grades are on order for limited vehicles to modify older vehicles to M270 MLRS A2, of which 2 have been done and are currently at white sands under trials. the up grade is massive new cab/engine FCS/FCP/LDS and the REME variant will be up grade and extra vehicles converted to bring it to 8.
More political yap and feeding the MIC monster with taxpayers money.
Yep, hopefully not by much at this point
They’ve lowered the specs too apparently. 600km down to 500km, and 300kg down to 200 kg payload.
Meanwhile, how many days left to release the fabled DIP before Christmas recess?
Or, it’s released last day and they run. I have been waiting for a grandly spun unveiling of NCF at Samlesbury any day now, and have wondered if that’ll be fed into it, like the MIS nonsense earlier.
Even my infantry brain says its not a big ask to produce this. After all its a V1 with a bit more accuracy. Still, must allow industry to reinvent the wheel eh? 🤣
“Bit more accuracy� 😆
The Germans fired it at London because it was so inaccurate it required a target that size.
Back then the V1 only had to face a Spitfire or Hurricane doing some wing-tipping to bring it down. Air defences have progressed somewhat since then.
Thank you for your valued input.
They’ll aim the DIP for the 18th/19th December and they’ll miss. I’m predicting DIP on 13th/14th of January. I should run a sweepstake.
Another day, another promise of ……?
Politician bullcrap.
as usual…
200-300kgs would make it very suitable for carring a nuclear warhead! Hmmmm?
The ware head on the old nuclear Tomahawk was 130kg.
This is exactly the kind of system we need in mass on NATO’s eastern flank. And to be fair to the MoD (for once), it does appear to be moving more quickly with this than most programmes from a standing start. Twenty a month wouldn’t be a bad starting point, but we and NATO need to flood the east with cheap mobile systems like this. Are any other European NATO countries developing anything similar?
Where are these systems likely to be based? Going by the limited tech-spec that’s been made available to the public domain you would have said it was a dead cert for BAOR (if that even still existed!), so what is it’s main function? Sit in a shed at an RA Depot and be used as a last resort if the Russians break through the German border?!?
I would imagine they will sit with the Baltic battlegroup. For strategic fires along that front.
.Maybe the RA will form a dedicated Regiment for the type.
And he’s me thinking Starmer government care more about welfare 😴