SPEAR-EW electronic warfare weapon to be introduced by MBDA
NewsSeptember 13, 2019
FRANCE. MBDA has been awarded a contract to demonstrate SPEAR-EW, a new electronic warfare version of the SPEAR weapon system family on order for the Royal Air Force (RAF). SPEAR-EW is being developed by MBDA in partnership with Leonardo to complete a wide range of Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) missions, under a Technical Demonstration Programme (TDP) contract awarded by Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S).
The compact size of the SPEAR family allows four weapons to be carried internally in each of the two internal weapons bays of the F-35, or three per station on the Eurofighter Typhoon.
According to the company, SPEAR-EW will integrate a miniaturized EW payload from Leonardo, which will act as a stand-in jammer to increase the survivability of RAF aircraft and suppress enemy air defenses, acting as a significant force multiplier.
The new SPEAR-EW will complement the SPEAR network enabled miniature cruise missile, which is designed to engage long-range, mobile, fleeting, and re-locatable targets in the presence of countermeasures, obscurants, and camouflage, while ensuring a safe stand-off range between the aircraft and enemy air defenses.
