Douglas Barrie and Andrew Chuter/LONDON

A MISSILE BASED on the US Air Force's previously classified Have Slick weapon has been submitted by McDonnell Douglas (MDC) for the Royal Air Force's conventional stand-off missile competition (CASOM).

The surprise unveiling of the Grand Slam Plus during a two-day lobbying campaign in London revealed a weapon which is substantially more stealthy and 530mm shorter, but with a larger cross-section and almost double the range of the baseline Grand Slam.

The Have Slick was cancelled in the early 1990s, but not before the conformally carried weapon underwent a series of test flights from a General Dynamics F-111.

The US company put in the new bid in February, when it became clear that the original Grand Slam offering, even with the man-in-the-loop guidance option removed and fuel tankage increased, was falling behind rival bidders offering the near-600km (320nm) range desired, but not specified, by the RAF.

Release of the weapon for public scrutiny has been delayed by commercial and military sensitivity surrounding the MDC bid for the USAF/US Navy Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM) requirement. Much of the work undertaken for the Have Slick and Grand Slam Plus is reflected in the company's US offering.

The Pentagon has decided on the two contractors to be awarded parallel development contracts and an announcement was expected by 18 June.

As part of its UK industrial participation programme, MDC is now guaranteeing that, UK companies would supply 25% by value, of its JASSM missile, should it be selected. Equipment in contention for inclusion, is headed by a GEC-Marconi imaging-infra-red seeker, similar to that on the Grand Slam.

In the meantime, the RAF is expected to select from a field of seven contenders by 23 July. MDC chances have been revived by the introduction of the Grand Slam Plus, although the original missile bid, which is cheaper, also remains on the table.

The trapezoidal-shaped Grand Slam Plus has a length of 4.7m and weight of 1,335kg, about 90kg heavier than in the original bid.

The subsystems remain the same and the range is constrained only by international arms-limitation agreements - a factor which will need to be resolved if a variant of the weapon is to be widely exportable.

Source: Flight International