Brimstone entered service with initial operational capability (IOC) on the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR.Mk4 aircraft in March 2005. Following a series of highly successful batch and service evaluation trials, full operational capability (FOC) was achieved in December 2005.
After a protracted development programme, single-mode or "millimetric" Brimstone entered service with RAF Tornado aircraft in 2005, and the dual-mode variant in 2008. The latter has been extensively used in Afghanistan and Libya. An improved Brimstone 2 was expected to enter service in October 2012, but problems with the new warhead from TDW[4] and the ROXEL rocket motor put back the planned date to November 2015. MBDA is working on the targeting of swarms of small boats under the name Sea Spear. The RAF intend to fit Brimstone to their Eurofighter Typhoons, and planned to integrate it with their Harriers until they were withdrawn from service in 2010. MBDA is studying the use of Brimstone on ships, attack helicopters, UAVs, and from surface launchers; it will be integrated on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II when the F-35B enters British service. The United States, France and India have expressed interest in buying Brimstone for their aircraft, but Saudi Arabia is the only export customer as of 2015.
Overview
The missile was originally supposed to be an evolution of the original laser AGM-114 Hellfire, with the laser seeker replaced by a millimetre wave (mmW) seeker. During development, virtually the entire missile was redesigned, resulting in a weapon that - other than the external shape - bears no relation to the original airframe. It is unrelated to the separate development of the mmW Hellfire for the Apache Longbow.
Brimstone has a Tandem Shaped Charge (TSC) warhead that employs a smaller initial charge, designed to initiate reactive armor, followed by a larger, more destructive charge, designed to penetrate and defeat the base armour. It has been estimated that Brimstone will be 3 times more effective than the AGM-65G Maverick missile against modern tanks, and 7 times more effective than the BL755 cluster bomb. In combat Brimstone has demonstrated accuracy and reliability "both well above 90 percent" according to the MoD; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton has said that 98.3% to 98.7% of Brimstone fired in Libya "did exactly what we expected"
The system has been operationally deployed on Tornado GR4 aircraft in Iraq and in Afghanistan in 2009.
Targeting and sensors
Brimstone is a "fire-and-forget" missile, which is loaded with targeting data by the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) prior to launch. It is programmable to adapt to particular mission requirements. This capability includes essentially the ability to find targets within a certain area (such as those near friendly forces), and to self-destruct if it is unable to find a target within the designated area. This information is provided to the munition by the WSO from RAF ASTOR, USAF Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS aircraft or local troops.
In addition to the semi-autonomous ability to decide its own targets, the Brimstone has the capacity to determine where on a target to best impact causing the most damage or resulting in elimination of the target. The missile's advanced sensor package includes its extremely high frequency millimetric wave radar, which allows the weapon to image the target and hence choose a target location. With as many as twenty-four missiles in the air, the missile's targeting system also required an algorithm to ensure that missiles hit their targets in a staggered order, rather than all simultaneously.
Brimstone can be fired in a number of attack profiles; direct or indirect against single targets, a column of targets or against an array of targets. The latter utilises a salvo attack capability for multiple kills per engagement. Once launched, the platform is free to manoeuvre away from the target area or engage another target array.
Launch system
Each launch system incorporates three rails, i.e. one system carries three missiles. This allows a single aircraft to carry large numbers of missiles; for example, a Typhoon could carry up to six launch systems on six individual pylons, which gives a maximum payload of eighteen Brimstone missiles, in addition to a useful air-to-air payload. The missile is carried by the Tornado GR4 in RAF service. In February 2014 the National Audit Office warned of a possible capability gap under existing plans to fit Brimstone to Typhoon in 2021, two years after the Tornado retired; in June 2014 the MoD announced a study to accelerate this to 2018 and look at a common launcher that could also launch SPEAR Cap 3. MBDA have fired test rounds from an MQ-9 Reaper and are studying the use of Brimstone on attack helicopters and from surface launchers; it will be integrated with the F-35 Lightning II when it enters British service. Both the US and France have expressed interest in buying it for their aircraft.
It was intended that Brimstone would be integrated on the RAF Harrier fleet under Capability D of the JUMP programme with a scheduled in-service date of 2009. A Harrier GR9 first flew with 12 Brimstone on 14 February 2007, and the RAF released video of a Tornado (incorrectly reported as a Harrier) using a Dual Mode Brimstone against an Afghan insurgent in 2008. In late 2009 Brimstone was "nearing completion for integration on the Harrier" but in July 2010 it was reported that Brimstone on the Harrier would be postponed until the insensitive-munition version of the missile became available in 2012. Brimstone had not been officially cleared for use on the type when the UK Harriers were withdrawn from service in late 2010.
Dual-mode seeker
In May 2008, the UK RAF issued an urgent operational requirement for an upgrade to the dual-mode seeker, in order to give the missile system a man-in-the-loop capability to reduce the possibility of collateral damage.
The RAF placed an order with MBDA for additional Brimstone missiles in December 2010 and a further order in August 2011. MBDA delivered the 500th missile in February 2012.
MBDA received a £35m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence in November 2013 to supply Brimstone missiles for five years.
Missile demonstration
The Brimstone missile made its first firing against a fast in-shore attack craft in June 2012.
MBDA then demonstrated its precision low collateral capability from a MQ-9 Reaper remotely-piloted aircraft in January 2014, while the maritime capability was demonstrated against a fast in-shore attack craft was in March and April of the same year.
Ground and air launched anti-armour missile system
Brimstone can be ground or air launched. Ground-launched missile firings have been successfully carried out at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona, US.
The system can be fired from fixed or mobile ground launchers and was proposed for installation on the cancelled UK Tracer armoured scout and reconnaissance vehicle project.
When air launched, the missile meets and exceeds RAF requirements for a long-range anti-armour weapon, giving fighter aircraft the stand-off capability of destroying tanks and armoured assets deep behind enemy lines.
Brimstone is being integrated into the RAF fleet of Harrier GR7, GR9, Tornado GR4, GR4A and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, and will replace RBL 755 cluster bombs.
The small size and weight of the missile allows it to be integrated onto a wide range of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, including the L-159, Hawk and F/A-18.
Brimstone fire and forget missile system
Brimstone is a fully fire-and-forget system, requiring no further interaction from the launch platform or a post-launch target designator.
After leaving the launcher, the solid propellant rocket motor accelerates the missile to supersonic speed.
This motor has a short burn time and very low smoke emission, providing a very low visual and infrared signature, minimising the probability of detection by hostile sensors.
Radar seeker to operate in all weather conditions
Brimstone is equipped with a small, robust millimetric wave radar seeker operating at 94GHz, providing the capability to operate in all weather conditions. day and night. The seeker operates in low visibility and contaminated battlefield conditions, and is not susceptible to battlefield obscurants such as smoke, dust, flares and chaff.
The high-millimetric band seeker provides a high-resolution radar return image of the target, while the frequency gives a small beamwidth and therefore very high angular resolution and reduces unwanted clutter for the given antenna size, which is limited by the diameter of the missile.
The millimetre wave radar enables wideband operation, facilitating the use of very sophisticated electronic countermeasures. Millimetric radar attenuates more rapidly than conventional centemetric radar in rain, sleet and fog, but its advantage is high penetration, in comparison to infrared sensor systems when countermeasures are employed.
Brimstone's seeker incorporates a terrain avoidance capability, allowing it to cruise at a fixed height above ground.
A digital autopilot provides mid-course guidance and uses a high-accuracy digital inertial measurement system for high-precision navigation to locate targets at long range and in off-boresight operations.
The highly advanced guidance system on the launcher's fire control unit and missile uses the target coordinates, course, speed, distance to target, missile trajectory data and data from other sensors to direct the controls and produce the optimum flight path to the target.
Multiple launch firing
In the event of a group of hostile armoured vehicles being identified on the battlefield, multiple Brimstone missiles can be fired in salvo. The missiles can fly out from a single platform and spread out to cover a large area.
Where hostile forces have in-line formations of armoured vehicles, Brimstone can be flown down the same corridor to attack the formation.
Engagement algorithms in the onboard computer reduce the probability of more than one missile hitting the same target. In addition, the fire command and control system can allocate individual missiles to engage sequentially numbered valid targets.
Damage control
During the search phase of the missile flight, the millimetre wave seeker carries out a sweep search for targets on the ground directly ahead and to each side of its path.
For low collateral damage control, the missile can be programmed not to initiate target search until it has passed a given point. This allows Brimstone to safely overfly friendly forces.
Brimstone can also be programmed to cease target search beyond a determined engagement area or to accept a target only within a specified area.
Embedded algorithms can be told to attack only valid targets within a specified area. The high selectivity allows Brimstone to target armoured vehicles and ignore other fixed or moving assets, such as houses or cars. It is also possible to programme the missile to engage targets with a specific radar signature, for example patrol boats.
The missile is fitted with a programmable self-destruct mechanism.
Anti-tank warhead
Brimstone is armed with a tandem high-explosive anti-tank warhead capable of penetrating explosive reactive armour.
The front charge initiates the explosion of the armour and clears the path for the main charge to penetrate it with the anti-tank jet dart.
Brimstone 2, an improved version of the Brimstone missile, features new airframe, millimetre-wave (mmW) radar with semi-active laser dual mode seeker capability, and an insensitive munition (IM) rocket motor and warhead.
It was fired at fast targets with a telemetry system in October 2013 and fitted to a Typhoon aircraft for the first time in December 2014.
Production of Brimstone 2 began in July 2014 and the missile is expected to enter service with the UK RAF in 2018.
Export sales
Around £10 million of Brimstones from the RAF stock were sold to the Royal Saudi Air Force for use on their Tornados. In April 2011, the RAF's Assistant Chief of the Air Staff Air vice-marshal Baz North reported that the missiles were "being sought by both the United States of America and the French" in the light of Brimstone's success in Libya. France's DGA procurement agency held meetings in late May 2011 to discuss a lightweight air-to-surface weapon for the Dassault Rafale; Stéphane Reb of the DGA would merely say that "Brimstone is a solution, but it's not the only option". In early 2014 the US Congress' House Armed Services Committee showed interest again in the missile; high-ranking members of the US armed services have stated they "like it" and if they do choose it they "need it out soon". The French Air Force were still thinking about a purchase in March 2012, with a prime consideration being lower collateral damage compared to the AASM. India has made a request for information about integrating Brimstone on their Sukhoi Su-30MKI fleet. MBDA hopes that firings conducted in the U.S. intended for the U.K. to test the feasibility of arming British General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAVs with the missile will persuade the U.S. military to purchase the Brimstone 2. In July 2014, it was revealed that the United States Navy was beginning environmental and integration analysis of the Dual Mode Brimstone for use on the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The United States Army also considered the Brimstone as "an option" in its Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) program, but selected Lockheed Martin's dual-mode seeker upgrade for the Hellfire missile. In September 2015, MBDA displayed the dual-mode Brimstone for the first time as a helicopter-mounted weapon to fulfill the British Army Air Corps' need for a future attack helicopter weapon for the AgustaWestland Apache.