A US ARMY demonstration of the Shorts Starstreak missile on the Boeing Avenger air-defence system has been cancelled, but the weapon may be evaluated on the Army's McDonnell Douglas Helicopter AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
Plans had called for live firings of the Starstreak hypervelocity air-defence weapon from the Avenger platform at Eglin AFB, Florida in late April. Shorts, which had agreed to provide 15 missiles for the demonstration, backed out of the deal, forcing the Missile Command (MICOM) to scrap its plan says the Army. Shorts declined to comment on the withdrawal.
In 1994, the cash-strapped US Army said that it would conduct a Starstreak-Avenger demonstration at Eglin AFB if Shorts Brothers would provide 15 test missiles. The company agreed until a senior US Army official told US lawmakers that the Army would test, but not buy Starstreak. Shorts then baulked at providing the missiles, but later agreed to support a demonstration re-scheduled for next month.
Two years ago Capitol Hill directed the US Army to consider installing a "complementary" missile on the Avenger, the line-of-sight portion of the Forward Area Air Defence System (FAADS). The system now has the Stinger and a 0.50 calibre machine gun, but critics contend that a longer-range missile should be added. The US Army favours a Stinger product improvement.
Boeing says that, in 1991, it evaluated successfully the hardware and software required to fire fully integrated Starstreak missiles from the Avenger. Army officials, however, believe that substantial modification is needed to add Starstreak to the Avenger system.
Although the Starstreak/ Avenger demonstration has been scrapped, the US Army may test the Starstreak as an air-to-air missile for the Apache.
The US Army and Shorts are said to be discussing a Starstreak-Apache demonstration which would begin with checks on the missile-platform interface and possibly be followed by live missile firings.
The UK Company, which is struggling to get the missile into service with the British Army after years of delay, is hoping that the Starstreak will be selected when the UK chooses an attack helicopter in the middle of this year. The Apache is among the favourites for the contract.
Source: Flight International
