SPEAR3
The Select Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) Capability 3 is a future British air-to-ground and possibly anti-ship missile. It had been planned to be operational in 2025. However, in November 2021, Defence Procurement Minister Jeremy Quin told the House of Commons Select Defence Committee that full operating capability for SPEAR-3 on F-35 might not occur until 2028.
MBDA UK was awarded an Assessment Phase contract for SPEAR 3, a standoff attack weapon. This is specified to have a range of at least 100 km, although current figures for SPEAR indicate a range over 130 km (80+mi). The weapon will make substantial reuse of technologies from the Brimstone precision strike missile that is used for engagements at shorter ranges. The 2 m (6.6 ft) weapon will fly at high-subsonic speed using a turbojet and wing kit, and will feature a multimode seeker with INS/GPS guidance and datalink. The assessment phase concluded with flight trials in 2014 on the Eurofighter Typhoon. The missile is set to use the same Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 turbojet as the JSOW-ER. MBDA has shown artwork of a three-missile launcher on a single Typhoon weapon station, and four will fit with a Meteor air-to-air missile in each internal weapons bay of the F-35B. In May 2016, the MOD awarded a £411 million contract to MBDA for the development of the air-launched SPEAR 3 missile. SPEAR 3 will be integrated with the F-35 Block 4 software package and is also planned to be used on the Eurofighter Typhoon
| Real World against Arma | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Detail | Real | ARMA | Config Value |
| Weapon Type | AGM | weaponType = "x"; | |
| Mass | 100 | 100 | mag: mass = "n"; |
| Warhead Mass | ~27.5kg | 800 | ammo: hit = "n"; (Proportionate Value mass vs hit ref Mk82) |
| Warhead Type | HEAT | HEAT | ammo: warheadName = "x"; |
| Fuse Type | Laser Prox | NOTE: No Direct Arma value | |
| Fuse Range | 5 | 20 | ammo: proximityExplosionDistance = n; |
| Seeker | Radar, Datalink | Radar, Datalink | See class component type |
| Auto Seek Target | No | No | ammo: autoseektarget = n; (0 or 1) |
| Counter Measure Immunity | High | 0.95 | ammo: cmimmunity = n; (Range 0 > 1) |
| Camera View Available | Yes | Yes | ammo: cameraViewAvailable = n; (0 or 1) |
| Flight Profile | Cruise, Top Down | Cruise, Top Down | ammo: flightProfiles[] = {"<TYPE>"}; |
| BoreSight Angle | 120 | 180 | ammo: missileLockCone = n; (Degrees) |
| Max Speed (m/s) | 274.4 | 274.4 | ammo: maxSpeed = n; (n= m/s) |
| Min Range | 1.5km | 1500 | ammo: minRange = n; (Dist in m) |
| Max Range | 130Km | 16000 | ammo: maxRange = n; (Dist in m) |
| Indirect Hit Value | 110 | ammo: indirectHit = 50; | |
| Indirect Hit Range | 16 | ammo: indirectHitRange = n; (m) | |
| Maneuverability | 28 G | 42 | ammo: maneuvrability = n; (Higher = more agile) |
| Danger Radius Hit | N/A | ammo: DangerRadiusHit = n; (Dist for AI aware in m) | |
| Suppression Radius Hit | N/A | ammo: SuppresionRadiusHit = n; (Dist for AI suppresion in m) | |
| Pylon/Rail | Single, triple Launcher | N/A See Hardpoint below | |
| ARMA Class details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ammo | Mag | Weapon | Hardpoint |
| rksl_amo_spear3 | rksl_mag_spear3_x1_direct | rksl_wpn_spear3 | SPEAR3_DIRECT |
| rksl_mag_spear3_x3_triplerack | SPEAR3_TRIPLE | ||
| rksl_mag_spear3_x3_triplerack_rear | SPEAR3_TRIPLE_REAR | ||