THE UK AND US defence ministries are discussing a joint programme to integrate the Shorts Starstreak high-velocity missile on to their respective attack helicopters.
The Starstreak is included as a "mandatory option" in the UK's attack-helicopter procurement requirement. Shorts and Lockheed Martin formally agreed on 25 May to collaborate on offering the weapon to the US Army for its McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache attack helicopters (Flight International, 3-9 May).
Shorts president Roy McNulty says: "The logical thing would be a joint development programme carried out over the next few years...There is a dialogue going on between the USA and the UK."
A joint programme would be particularly appropriate were the AH-64D to be chosen to meet the UK requirement. McNulty says that there is a growing recognition that the Starstreak offers significant advantages over the General Dynamics FIM-92 Stinger in the air-to-air role.
"Stinger doesn't work," he claims, suggesting that it struggles to deal with a helicopter's relatively low infra-red signature in the cluttered battlefield environment, and argues that the Starstreak has a considerably shorter engagement time than does the Stinger.
Shorts is now focusing its effort in getting the Starstreak on in to the Apache, its attempts to sell the missile to the Boeing Avenger programme having fallen into abeyance.
Source: Flight International
