#1028
Mensagem
por Marino » Seg Abr 27, 2009 10:06 am
ANALYSIS
Date Posted: 24-Apr-2009
Jane's Defence Weekly
Brazil's guided weapons target export markets
The recent LAAD defence exhibition was notable for the first public
display of several new and emerging guided weapon programmes. Robert
Hewson reports
Brazil's guided-weapon sector is undergoing a renaissance. Local
industry, led by Mectron, is expanding its product lines, winning
meaningful export business and building significant partnerships with
firms at home and abroad.
The influence of Brazil's new national plan for strategic defence
policy, which emphasises the growth of the national and independent
technology base, can be keenly felt. The evidence for this was
displayed in April at Rio de Janeiro's LAAD 2009 aerospace and defence
exhibition, where several new and emerging weapon programmes were
unveiled for the first time.
Mectron's presence at LAAD was dramatic, with the public debut of the
once highly classified MAR-1 anti-radiation missile (ARM). Alongside
this was a hitherto unknown guided bomb design, the Acauan (Falcon) or
SMKB (smart kit bomb). Mectron also brought its new MAA-1B Piranha II
agile air-to-air missile (AAM), which is about to begin flight
testing.
The MAR-1 and Acauan are important new products for Mectron's
technology base and export prospects. With the MAR-1 Brazil has done
what very few other countries have accomplished, in building an
indigenous ARM. Crucially, the company says that the design and
manufacture of the missile's multi-band passive seeker is wholly
Brazilian. Observers outside Brazil have long speculated that Mectron
received third-party assistance with the seeker design but as one
company executive told Jane's: "Actually, nobody wants to talk about
this kind of technology. It's very sensitive, so we got no help
anywhere."
A carbon-fibre body gives the MAR-1 a 'stealthier' radar signature,
making it difficult to detect and defeat in combat. Its 90 kg warhead
is fitted with a laser proximity fuze and the weapon can be programmed
with a range of tactical behaviours. Several launches from Brazilian
Air Force A-1 (AMX) attack aircraft have been conducted to date but
missile trials are still to be fully completed. In 2008 the Brazilian
government completed the sale of 100 MAR-1s to Pakistan but Mectron
has refused to comment on this deal.
Nevertheless, the deal with Pakistan was a milestone in Mectron's
export history.
Sales are also being won by the Acauan GPS/INS-guided bomb. Jane's
understands that orders have already been received from Brazil,
another South American country and no less than four customers in the
Middle East. The Acauan's advantage is its ease of integration,
particularly with unsophisticated aircraft, because it does not need a
databus connection for control or targeting. Instead, Mectron has
developed a handheld wireless system, described by one source as "an
encrypted Tom-Tom" (referring to the popular brand of in-car GPS
navigation system). The weapon can be programmed with target co-
ordinates on the ground or in the air using this small device.
A key requirement is that the weapon can be integrated on a given
aircraft without support from the aircraft manufacturer. Compatibility
with the US GPS, Russian GLONASS and European Galileo satellite
navigation systems has been assured. Two versions are being produced
using either 500 lb Mk 82 or 1,000 lb Mk 83 bomb bodies. A wing kit
range extension kit is also under development. First deliveries are
expected in 2010.
Partnering Mectron on the Acauan project is Brazil's Britanite IBQ
Defence Systems. Britanite is a major supplier of commercial
explosives and energetic materials. For example, it provides ammonium
perchlorate for rockets in the national space launch programme and
elsewhere. Britanite also has a munitions production capability of its
own, building bombs and rockets for Brazil and several export
customers.
Britanite is supplying the warheads, tail-kit and complete mission
planning system for the Acauan. It is also taking the experience
gained through the Acauan project and applying it to a new guidance
system for artillery rockets. The company is looking at upgrading 300
mm rockets and has also shown plans for a Unimog-based vehicle
launcher. Britanite describes the guided rocket programme as "a
conversation right now but an agreement will follow".
On the international front Brazil's major partner in missile
development is South Africa, where Denel Dynamics is co-operating with
Mectron on the A-Darter IR-guided AAM. Mectron sees its own more agile
but shorter-range MAA-1B as a fourth-generation AAM while describing
the A-Darter as a fifth-generation weapon.
Brazil's participation in the long-running A-Darter programme was
crucial to ensuring its survival as funding dried up at home. Mectron
has design personnel working with Denel in South Africa and will build
components for the missile, which is scheduled to enter service in
2012. No decision yet has been taken on establishing a Brazilian
production line.
The A-Darter should be a key weapon for whatever type is selected for
the Brazilian Air Force's FX-2 fighter requirement. The missile is the
third strand in Mectron's staged AAM development work and the company
says that it is already looking at beyond-visual-range (BVR) missile
designs as a natural next step in that process. As a similar BVR
weapon requirement exists in South Africa, it is not impossible that
this will be the next collaboration between the two.
Robert Hewson is Editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, reporting from
Rio de Janeiro
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco