New Zealand boosts defence spend to US$6.6 billion and vows increased closeness with Australia
This budget will be spent over the next four years and nearly doubles the country’s defence spending as part of GDP to 2%.
Typhoon in Brimstone live firing
MBDA’s Brimstone air-to-surface missile has been fired from a Eurofighter Typhoon for the first time.
The integration of the weapon is part of the Phase 3 Enhancement package for Typhoon, which will deliver upgraded capabilities for the aircraft as the Royal Air Force transitions Tornado GR4 capabilities on to Typhoon under Project Centurion.
The firing, carried out from the UK’s Instrumented Production Aircraft 6 Typhoon, was designed to test the separation of the low-collateral, high-precision Brimstone weapon when it is released. In total, nine firings will take place to expand the launch and range capabilities.
The firing was supported by the UK Ministry of Defence, MBDA, QinetiQ, Eurofighter GmbH and the Eurofighter partner companies, Airbus and Leonardo.
Volker Paltzo, CEO for Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH, said: ‘The successful completion of this trial is an important step towards integration of the weapon on to the aircraft. Brimstone will provide the Typhoon pilot with the ability to precisely attack fast-moving targets at range, further enhancing the aircraft’s already highly potent air-to-surface capabilities.’
The successful trial follows completion earlier this year of the flight trials programme for the MBDA Storm Shadow deep strike air-to-surface weapon and the MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile. Operational testing and evaluation of those capabilities is currently ongoing with the Royal Air Force ahead of entry into service in 2018.
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