Develop new safety-critical software to control the complex MIL-STD-1760 missile interfaces. GWM I think the addition of Martlett missiles onto the ds30m mounts is not all that expensive, low cost option of adding a significant weight of fire to a frigate, destroyer, lpd, RFA, carrier etc to protect against small to medium sized surface threats. Looking forward to Sea Venom next to take over from Sea Skua. If they could adapt it to be a bit more powerful then it might pose more of a threat, an interesting point is that they’ve transformed an LMM into a free fall bomb and they’ve pitched it to the US. It seems like a real wasted opportunity not to fully integrate between fleets, although I understand it is quite expensive. I’d love the DS-30 mounts to be fitted as standard with at least the conenction mounts for the Martlet too. A UK Royal Navy (RN) and industry team has completed a test campaign of Thales UK Martlet missile firings from the service’s Leonardo Helicopters Wildcat HMA2 maritime rotorcraft. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Although Thales completed much of the initial development work on Freefall LMM, their partnership with Textron has allowed them to integrate the Textron tri-mode fuse (point, airburst, and delay) and GPS/INS guidance module. It was an improvement compared to the early Standard ARM missiles, that had only one narrow-band homing sensor. Freefall munitions also provide a wider engagement envelope than forward firing types, to the side or behind for example. During missions, the missile aids in engaging smaller, fast-moving, asymmetric threats. A lot cheaper than a 7A mod Ultra Low Level Skua would have been. It flies at a maximum speed of Mach 1.5 and has a maximum range of 8km, minimum range is 400m, propelled by a two-stage rocket motor. It always frustrates me that the UK armed forces rarely fully integrate weapons systems across entire fleets (Brimstone, LMM and Sea Venom being prime examples). I didn’t appreciate the overlap between the 57 mm and Martlet, and I’m sure the 57 mm is more cost effective. Design and manufacture a handheld test set to allow the helicopter electrical interfaces to be rapidly tested in conjunction with the SMS Built-in-Test capability. JSM’s hanging off a wing is not a problem. as you said, it’s not going to make the Russians or Chinese Navies poo their pants. Any indication of whether it can be carried supersonically on a wing pylon? The problem would be then what missile to carry on a mission…..too much choice. We could carry a lot of them, and it is much more cost effective than using a brimstone which is worth the value of 100 pick up trucks! Concept work continued with FASGW(L) and it became clear that the Semi-Automatic Command Line of Sight (SACLOS) Starstreak missile would form an ideal candidate. It wasn’t really to save money. I think we need to look at lethality across all our platforms, the MoD/armed forces will need to get over their fear of overlapping capabilities. Each wing is capable of carrying either ten Martlet or two Sea Venom missiles, generating additional lift and reducing load on the main rotor. It showcased the integration of the Martlet onto the AW159 platform. In addition to being able to engage maritime threats, Leonardo says the Martlet weapon could be employed “to engage air targets such as unmanned air vehicles, and other maritime helicopters”. There were certainly test firings but then silence. Thales have demonstrated firing an LMM from the Stormer HVM system, Thor, and later Rapid Ranger launch turrets equipped with an Ultra Electronics servo system. A pair of F35 carrying 16 spears is going to make a mess of any medium sized surface combatant,no need for obsolete Harpoons. In respect to Venom your correct but Martlet is not being used by France so to save money they decided to do the integration work at the same time,martlet has been available for some time and could have been in use already. The US Department of Defense has awarded Texas A&M University’s Engineering Experiment Station a 5-year contract worth $20 million per year to establish and manage the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics. The U.K. ordered 1,000 LMMs in 2011. I’m sure they would cause some problematic damage to most frigates or destroyers , maybe a barrage of say 5 on the same spot like the bridge, not sure if they can fire multiple one after another and if so would they all follow the one laser guide, not sure if they are armour piercing either.