FRANCE HAS guaranteed the UK, access to satellite imagery for targeting purposes, if it procures a derivative of the Matra Apache, to meet the Royal Air Force's requirement for a standoff missile.
The Apache variant, which is known as the Storm Shadow, is being offered by British Aerospace (teamed with Matra) to meet Staff Requirement (Air) 1236 for a conventional air-launched standoff missile (CASOM).
Programme sources confirm that an agreement to provide satellite data is included in the bid. The Storm Shadow uses an imaging infra-red seeker in the terminal engagement for target recognition and acquisition.
BAe has recently submitted a revised proposal for the Storm Shadow, offering the RAF "significantly" more missiles as a result of a revised bid based round a collaborative acquisition programme with France.
The revised offer came in response to a formal UK Ministry of Defence request to all seven contenders to specify the benefits they believe will accrue from an international procurement programme.
All seven contenders (BAe, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, GEC-Marconi, Hughes, McDonnell Douglas, Rafael and Texas Instruments) had until 11 January to submit their new proposals.
BAe is proposing a joint programme to meet the UK's CASOM requirement and the French defence ministry's Apache EG (general-purpose) project. Full-scale development for the latter, is expected, to be approved in October.
Management of the common programme would be by a joint industrial team, with maximum (although not complete) commonality between the two weapons, says BAe.
According to the company, a collaborative programme offers "...significant savings in non-recurring costs, lowers cash-flow requirements, and significantly increases the number of operational missiles available".
A decision on the winner of SR(A)1236, is expected to be announced in July.
Source: Flight International