- The UK has tested the SPEAR-3 cruise missile from an F-35B for the first time
- A trial took place in Maryland, US, where the weapon was tested in the internal bay of an Integrated Test Force jet
- While the test is a first, progress will likely stall as the Ministry of Defence wait for TR-3 and Block 4 upgrades to British aircraft
The UK Royal Navy has tested the SPEAR-3 cruise missile from an F-35B Lightning II for the first time.
This test was the first in a series of planned trials for carriage of SPEAR on the fifth generation aircraft.
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The test toom place at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, United States, where the F-35 Integration Test Force (ITF) provides developmental testing as part of the lifecycle commitment for Joint Strike Programme participants.
The long-awaited milestone accrued “valuable data” about the use of the weapon, according to a Royal Navy press release.
Likewise, a spokesperson from the missile manufacturer MBDA told Naval Technology that further environmental data gathering flights will take place according to Lockheed Martin’s flight test programme.
Mission systems integration and jettison trials are the next critical integration milestones.
SPEAR – the Selective Precision Effect At Range – is an air-to-surface missile powered by an internal turbojet engine.
MBDA developed the missile for the UK military to provide stand-off capability in challenging, complex operating environments for suppression of enemy air defence missions. Threats include ground based air defence sites, armoured vehicles and critical infrastructure.
Integration delays
While this test is a milestone for the programme, it also a stark reminder of the enduring delays in integrating the missile with the F-35B.
Integration depends on the advanced processing power, data link architectures and software interfaces provided by Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) and Block 4 modernisation packages, which do not exist in older versions.
These updates allow the weapon to function within a network of systems, which means the missile functions as a collaborative node.
Originally due to be completed in 2026 and determined to cost $10.6bn, Block 4 has risen to $16.5bn and is now anticipated to conclude in the early 2030s.
Instead of the fully fledged capability, which is not finalised yet, ITF F-35s incorporate incremental developmental versions of the upgrade to clear flight testing milestones.
Previous publicised tests had SPEAR carried by and fired from the Eurofighter Typhoon. Yet the primary platform that SPEAR is intended for in the UK is the Lightning II.
