South Africa, Brazil to Develop A-Darter SRAAM
Apr 26, 2010 10:14 EDT
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First missile firing; Optimistic market assessment. (Sept 22 21/10)
Denel Pty Ltd.’s missile/UAV subsidiary Denel Dynamics has entered into a joint development agreement with Brazil’s Ministry of Defence and Forca Aerea Brasileira for the A-Darter short range air-air missile (SRAAM), signed as a government to government agreement via South Africa’s Armscor. The original contract was apparently signed in July-August 2006, but the formal cooperation launch was announced at the April 2007 Latin American Aerospace and Defence exhibition in Brazil.
With the SRAAM export market already crowded by high-end products like the AA-11 Archer (Russia), AIM-9M/X Sidewinder (USA), ASRAAM (UK), IRIS-T (Germany & European), and Python 4/5 (Israel), one may legitimately wonder what this development deal will involve, and where the Agile-Darter will fit in terms of capabilities, design philosophy, and market positioning. This article addresses the A-Darter, and those market issues.
The A-Darter Program
c. Gripen International
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The A-Darter missile is expected to be a 5th generation weapon, with a number of important capabilities and design decisions similar to ASRAAM. It will use modern thermal imaging technology with a wide “boresight angle” for targeting, working with a helmet-mounted look and shoot sight to maximize the usefulness of that “high off-boresight” capability. A-Darter also uses a very similar streamlined design to maximize range. To take maximum advantage of that design decision, lock-on after launch capability will allow it to fly to an area specified by the launching aircraft by using an inertial navigation system from BAE Systems (now divested as Atlantic Inertial Systems), before acquiring the target with its seeker head. There is no word, however, on whether the missile’s datalink is intended to allow for updates in flight, in order to prevent the wrong target from being engaged once it reaches the end of its inertial navigation.
Denel says that “Current contracts exceed R1 billion [currently about $145 million] in total and future export contracts are expected to add another R2 billion over this fifteen-year period.”
In such a crowded SRAAM market, where integration of a non-standard weapon can be a difficult and expensive endeavor, a new missile can be a difficult sell. A clue to its positioning may be provided by the statement of Denel’s spokesperson Joe Makhafola:
“The co-development of the missile… not only brings much-needed skills, training and technology transfer to the country, but reinforces the South-South co-operation initiated by President Thabo Mbeki and his counterpart.”
This is certainly an explanation of the industrial strategy involved, which seeks to boost the indigenous aerospace industries in both countries. It may also be a lead-in to the missile’s marketing in many 3rd world countries, as a no strings weapon with a so-called non-aligned positioning. Whether this marketing approach will be successful remains to be seen. First, of course, the missile development itself must succeed.
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The A-Darter is designed to work with MIL-STD-1553 systems, and use common LAU-7 type launchers. It will equip South Africa’s JAS-39 C/D Gripens and Hawk Mk. 120 trainer/ light attack aircraft, and will replace the indigenous Mectron MAA-1 Piranha missile in Brazil. Brazil’s upgraded F-5M Tiger IIs are an agreed-upon platform; the A-4 Skyhawks that fly from the Brazilian Carrier Sao Paulo (formerly FMS Foch) and carry AIM-9H Sidewinder missiles are also test candidates.
Brazil’s other SRAAM-capable aircraft include the FAB’s Italo-Brazilian AMX light attack aircraft and indigenous EMB-314 Super Tucanos. Cooperation with Elbit of Israel will give the F-5M, AMX, and EMB-314 aircraft a very similar set of avionics, which is likely to make common missile integration easier; Israel’s Derby 4 missile is already slated for integration as the FAB’s radar-guided counterpart on the F-5Ms. The country’s new squadron of refurbished Mirage 2000 fighters from France may prove more difficult to modify.
While a certain amount of development has already been completed by Denel, Brazil’s FAB gives an expected in-service date of 2015. There are estimates that Brazil’s 50% share of the remaining development costs could rise to over $100 million before the missile is complete. At present, $52 million is allocated.
Denel says that it expects to employ at least 200 engineers over the duration of the contract, and hopes to use the program to attract young engineers to the company. while this is an excellent long-term strategy, it would have development implications if implemented. Meanwhile, 10 Brazilian air force members have begun work on the program at the Denel Dynamics plant, to be joined by another 20 people from “the Brazilian defence companies.” The FAB’s Aerospace Technical Centre (CTA) will assemble the Brazilian industrial end of the deal; rumored firms include Mectron, Avibras, and Atech.
Contracts and Key Events
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Sept 22/10: Reuters Africa quotes Denel Dynamics CEO Jan Wessels, who sees a bright market future for the A-Darter. He’d hardly say it was rubbish, but for the record, here’s his take:
“In 10 years time I predict that a significant percentage of the missile business in the developing world will be kept among themselves, with many of them getting their sourced technology from South Africa…. We will see as a percentage of the missile market the developing countries share possibly doubling to 20 percent, and importantly they are no longer buying from traditional suppliers but keeping the business among themselves….” [Wessels] cited the A-Darter air-to-air missile, a joint development with Brazil, as one example.”
July 21/10: The 1st A-Darter firing takes place from a South African Air Force JAS-39D Gripen, at the Overberg test area in South Africa. Magnus Reineholm Project Manager for the integration of A-Darter at Saab:
“The A-Darter and the Gripen aircraft have worked beyond our expectations and we are extremely pleased with the test firing results.”
See: Saab.
April 23/10: The South African Air Force reportedly intends to fit A-Darter missiles to its fleet of 24 BAE Hawk Mk. 120 lead-in fighter trainers and light attack aircraft, as well as its 26 JAS-39 C/D Gripen Fighters.
The move will give Denel Dynamics a larger market within South African and also abroad – Hawk aircraft are flown by about 18 countries. South Africa’s Defence Web.
April 22/10: The A-Darter missile program has completed a series of ground- launched flight tests, and Denel Dynamics executive manager for air-to-air programmes, Denise Wilson, says the project will be ready for full production by 2012. Denel is reportedly working toward a 2011 date to supply early unarmed training missiles for the SAAF.
Program manager Deon Olivier is quoted as saying that the project is now at the stage “where uncertainties have decreased considerably,” thanks to increased confidence in the seeker stemming from December 2009 – January 2010 seeker tests. Step 2 was a series of ground-based test shots to evaluate the missile’s aerodynamics and control, followed by guided shots in which all the components were tested together in flight. March 2010 saw the completion of carriage clearance tests of the A-Darter missile on the JAS-39C/D Gripen, at up to 12g instantaneous maneuver and 45,000 feet/ 13,700m.
Future tests include imminent ground-launch programmed tests for aerodynamics and flight control evaluations, followed by firing clearance from the Gripen aircraft to test missile and seeker performance. Johannesburg Business Day.
April 16/09: Defense News covers a presentation from Denel Dynamics at the 2009 Latin America Aerospace and Defense (LAAD) conference. Col. Ian van Vuuren, director for the A-Darter program at Denel Dynamics:
”...gave a basic “how-to” seminar on establishing a framework for technology transfers between countries. “One of the typical problems with technology transfer is everybody agrees to do it, [but] it takes two and a half years for the client receiving the technology to put the establishment team in place in his own country,” van Vuuren said. In that time, knowledge is lost and training loses its effectiveness…. Van Vuuren’s presentation focused on the process Denel and the governments of South Africa and Brazil used to establish a framework for the technology transfer as part of the A-Darter program. Key to the process is having over-arching government support, formalized in cooperation agreements, and creating a joint contracting body to award the contract to companies.”
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May 28/08: Diehl BGT announces that the South African Air Force has picked the IRIS-T short range air-to-air missile to equip their Gripen fighter aircraft “as an interim solution until the local missile development – the A Darter – will be operational.” This makes them IRIS-T’s 2nd export customer outside the original 7-nation consortium.
The South African arms acquisition organization Armscor placed a contract order for the IRIS-T missiles “in the second half of May 2008,” and the missiles will become operational on SAAF Gripens in 2009. Industrial offsets are also involved, which will be tricky given the A-Darter’s explicit status as a future competitor.
