Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA
Israeli Military Industries (IMI), teamed with BAE Systems Australia, has offered the Delilah II missile and the Modular Stand-Off Vehicle (MSOV) gliding dispenser weapon as a solution to the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Project Air 5418 Follow On Stand Off Weapon.
The MSOV, competing as the Goliath, is intended to meet requirements for wide area-denial capability against personnel and soft-skin vehicles. The weapons on offer to Australia use the same datalink pod as that of the AGM-142 Popeye missile developed by Rafael and Lockheed Martin, entering RAAF service.
The Delilah II replaces the Popeye television guidance system with a new-generation dual band seeker, but retains the 30kg (65lb) warhead. RAAF personnel describe it as similar in size and profile to a standard 226kg bomb, but with rocket exhausts and a large, transparent, seeker window.
The Delilah II is undergoing US Army evaluation as a potential future armament, allowing the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter to be used in the suppression of enemy air defence role.
Tenders for the RAAF requirement closed on 18 February. As well as the IMI/BAE Systems bid, responses have been submitted by Lockheed Martin, offering the Joint Air-to-Surface Strike Missile, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, proposing a KEPD-350 Taurus variant with a new-generation dual-spectrum seeker believed to have been developed in the USA.
The status of bids from Boeing and Raytheon remains unclear, neither having secured approval from the US State Department before closure of tenders. Boeing submitted a letter of intent on 18 February, advising of a bid comprising the AGM-84 SLAM-ER, AGM-88 HARM and the Joint Direct Attack Munition. Raytheon submitted a partial bid based on the HARM and a powered AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon.
Source: Flight International
