Germany has awarded the European missile maker MBDA a contract to manufacture and supply Brimstone 3 precision strike missiles for the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
To facilitate this, a final assembly line and service center for Brimstone will be established at MBDA’s Schrobenhausen site. Neither the exact number of missiles ordered nor the value of the contract has yet been specified.
“The procurement of Brimstone 3 by Germany is a decisive contribution to the harmonisation of armaments in Europe and the Bundeswehr’s ammunition stockpile,” Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA, stated. “The new production line is the first of its kind outside the UK and demonstrates the value of the MBDA cooperation model in ensuring the sovereign supply of critical European defence capabilities.”
The Brimstone 3 missile is a tactical precision strike weapon designed to engage both stationary and fast-moving targets on land and at sea. It weighs 50kg, has a length of 1.8 meters, and a diameter of 180mm. It is equipped with a tandem-shaped charge warhead.
The weapon features three modes of operation for different target scenarios: Semi-Active Laser (SAL) guidance for engaging static targets with limited or no radar cross section (RCS); a combination of SAL and Millimetric Wave radar guidance for targeting fast-moving objects in cluttered environments; and a fire-and-forget mode for simultaneous target engagement.