Storm Shadow / SCALP EG - Program
Conventionally Armed Stand Off Missile (CASOM)
Storm Shadow / SCALP has been put into operations with the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in 2003 and was used in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya. The weapon is now in service with three other nations giving unrivalled deep strike capability. Storm Shadow / SCALP is operated from Tornado, Rafale, Mirage 2000 and Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD) Storm Shadow missile system was selected for the RAF to meet SR (A) 1236, the Conventionally Armed Stand Off Missile (CASOM). The contract was awarded to MBD in February 1997 after an international competition with six other companies. The Storm Shadow missile system proposed by MBD is based on the flight-proven Apache air vehicle, and is optimised to meet UK requirements. The Storm Shadow system provides long range firepower for the Royal Air Force's Tornado, EF 2000 and Harrier GR7 aircraft, ensuring aircrews no longer to enter heavily defended enemy airspace in order to destroy high value targets.
The contract for the development and production of Storm Shadow was placed with Matra BAe Dynamics (UK) Ltd in February 1997 after a competitive tender exercise. This was one of the first contracts to be placed with this contractor. Matra BAe Dynamics (UK) Ltd is a subsidiary of Matra BAe Dynamics SAS, a company jointly owned by BAe plc and Lagardere SCA. Matra BAe Dynamics (France) Ltd has won the SCALP EG contract from the French Government.
The two parts of Matra BAe Dynamics act as separate Prime Contractors and hold the individual Storm Shadow and SCALP EG contracts for their respective national Governments. This has resulted in an industry collaborative programme that has undertaken certain aspects of the work normally handled by both Governments, such as the harmonisation of national requirements and the merging of national procurement methods. These aspects are exclusively carried out by Matra BAe Dynamics by a fully integrated French and UK management and engineering team. This common solution is shared by the subcontractors' base who only have a single subcontract which embraces the joint requirements. This has resulted in a collaborative programme which is largely transparent to both Governments, and attracts little of the procurement overhead often associated with Government collaborative programmes. This approach has also had the added benefit of driving down costs and enabled both Governments to obtain more weapons for their money.
Italy joined the Storm Shadow / SCALP program in October 1999 to equip the Italian Air Force IDS Tornado and in the same year the United Arab Emirates (UAE) placed a contract to equip the UAE Air Force Mirage 2000-9. In August 2000 Greece ordered the system and placed an additional order in December 2003 to equip the Hellenic Air Force’s Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 fighters.
Under the French Air Force programme, SCALP entered service in 2004. Integration on the Rafale aircraft concluded following successful trials from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in December 2004. Qualified on the Tornado GR4, Mirage 2000 and the Rafale, Storm Shadow / SCALP is currently in service with the air forces of six nations.
Storm Shadow was successfully deployed on Tornado GR4 combat aircraft by the Royal Air Force’s 617 “Dambusters” Squadron during Operation Telic in 2003. A total of 27 missiles were fired during the conflict delivering significant in-target effect and proving the missile’s exceptional capability to accurately engage targets at extended ranges ensuring that the launch aircraft remains safely away from the target area.
The first operational use of SCALP by France in a conflict occurred on March 24, 2011. Several SCALPs were fired against a military air base of Gaddafi’s loyalist forces in Libya. The raid employed two Mirage 2000D and two Rafale Air operated from air bases in France as well as two Rafale Marine operated from the “Charles-de-Gaulle” aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. During the same operations in Libya, the Royal Air Force and the Italian Air Force also fired a substantial quantity of Storm Shadows against high value military targets from their Tornado aircraft.
The first tests on Storm Shadow integration for the Eurofighter began in December 2013 with IPA2 operated by Alenia Aermacchi. Six further flights were then completed in the following weeks to assess the Storm Shadow’s compatibility with the Eurofighter’s Air Data System, and Flutter & Structural Coupling tests were also carried out. A later flight was then performed with baseline configuration for comparative analyses purposes. The assessment of the Performance & Loads on the aircraft while carrying the missiles was done in March 2014 in a programme known as Extended WIF phase 1. Five flights were performed with the Storm Shadows installed and a further three with baseline configuration. Following this testing, IPA7 (Airbus Germany) and IPA4 (Airbus Spain) undertook an intensive campaign of related Aero Data Gathering trials with IPA4 having one and/or two Storm Shadows fitted in order to complete the WIF Flight Test phase of testing.
In November 2014 inert drop-tests and store jettison trials were accomplished at an Italian test range. The trials saw the missile being jettisoned from the aircraft and tracked by radar up to impact. In September 2015 two avionic integration flights have been performed in Decimomannu airbase to check the aircraft-missile avionic interface.
The 2015 series of trials that Eurofighter Partner Company, Alenia Aermacchi, demonstrated the full integration of the Storm Shadow missile with Typhoon’s weapon system. With support from Eurofighter Partner Company BAE Systems, missile designer and producer MBDA, and specialist trials support from QinetiQ, the trials were conducted in November 2015 at Aberporth MoD firing range, in the UK. The integration of the missile with the aircraft’s weapon system was successfully demonstrated. The trials also verified the interface of the missile with the weapon system for pre-launch checks, demonstrated post-launch safe separation and the subsequent commencement of missile flight.
Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven nations (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon and the State of Kuwait has recently signed an agreement for 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. The Eurofighter Typhoon was the largest military procurement programme in Europe.
An Anglo-French mid-life refurbishment and upgrade program has completed its Concept Phase. SCALP/Storm Shadow already faces multiple areas of operational obsolescence. Currently capable of reaching a target located about 400 kilometres away, these missiles will nevertheless have too little range given the increased capabilities of enemy missiles and the deployment of increasingly efficient A2/AD systems. In this context, the mid-life renovation begun on half of the stock in 2016 is aimed at dealing with some of these sources of obsolescence. The range and capacity to fire from a higher altitude will be slightly increased. In addition, the navigation system’s capacity to resist interference will be strengthened while homing function and target recognition will be improved. This renovation makes it possible to look ahead to the withdrawal of the SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles by 2032.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
