Hughes and GEC unveiled a formal tie-up on 23 May for the UK bid, with GEC involvement covering "final assembly and integration of the [missile] inner package", says Peter Quast, Hughes UK's managing director.
The AirHawk bid being offered for the UK requirement uses digital scene-matching area correlation (DSMAC). The DSMAC, however, would not be released by the USA for some of its potential export customers, say Hughes officials. In those cases, GEC-Marconi IIR seekers could be used.
Potential export markets for the winner of the UK Ministry of Defence's CASOM competition include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
GEC is offering the MoD its Pegasus missile, based on the Hakim family of weapons developed for the UAE. It is also offering the Centaur missile which is similar to the Pegasus to the UAE.
The indications are that GEC is unlikely to win with the Pegasus in the UK. This will hamper its chances of winning in the UAE, where it is in competition with Matra, offering the Apache. A range-limited IIR-guided variant of the AirHawk could by offered by Hughes UK and GEC in the UAE, according to sources.
Source: Flight International