New South African BVRAAM

Marlin BVRAAM radar seeker tested in launch.

http://www.janes.com/article/80588/denel-tests-bvr-missile-seeker

Denels new BVRAAM is nearing its first test.

Marlin nears first test [AAD14]

Denel Dynamics expects to conduct the first flight test of its Marlin 100km radar-guided anti-air missile early next year. The first launch will be conducted from the ground at Overberg Test Range, and will be a ballistic test to check out the missile’s basic flight systems.

Successful ballistic tests should lead to programmed tests, in which the missile’s midcourse guidance and flight control systems are used to control the missile’s flightpath. The final stage of trials will be closed-loop fully guided tests, with the missile’s seeker providing control inputs to the guidance section. In the meantime, Denel Dynamics will conduct ground testing and captive air testing of the latest version of seeker.

What is now known as Marlin has been a Denel Dynamics project to develop an active radar missile for around 10 years. The missile has evolved into one that is capable of satisfying land, sea and air applications, and its design has been carefully crafted to meet the requirements of surface and air launch. It employs a degree of modularity that allows it to incorporate elements from the successful A-Darter and Umkhonto programmes, such as the motor technology and fuze. The missile relies on the same motor for all its applications, negating the need to develop

During the development of the weapon, the seeker has undergone an evolution to take account of technological advances. For instance, the original functions of five digital signal processing cards have been compressed to fit on one card, in turn freeing significant capacity for additional processing.

This has allowed the seeker to be made capable of simultaneous multi-target tracking. Other benefits are the ability of four channels to be processed in parallel, rather than sequentially. An operational result is the increase in electronic counter-countermeasures performance, the seeker being able to discriminate between chaff, jamming and the real target.

http://www.janes.com/article/43439/marlin-nears-first-test-aad143

Very good news for the South African firms, as the Brazilians have a much bigger budget.

Indeed.

My only concern is that there isn’t an official definite agreement, although both sides have been making the right noises in the past about extending the A-Darter agreement model to include other missiles.
The article seems to intimate that the Marlin BVRAAM is going forward, so one must assume that backround agreement has been reached?

South Africa had advanced and diverse missile programmes, due to the embargo, but now have little funding compared to those halcyon days of good military funding.
Both benefit, as Brazil get buy into the technology and local production, and South Africa don’t have to see some of the projects go to waste.

The Marlin BVRAAM will most likely lend some components to the Umkhonto Radar 60km SAM that has been mentioned.

Very good news for the South African firms, as the Brazilians have a much bigger budget.

SA and Brazil to collaborate on missiles post-A-Darter
Written by Guy Martin, Friday, 16 May 2014

With the South African-Brazilian A-Darter air-to-air missile heading for production next year, prime contractor Denel Dynamics is looking to further cooperate with Brazil in missile development, notably on the 100 km range Marlin radar-guided air-to-air weapon.

The A-Darter is in its final stage of development, with production expected to begin next year and the first missiles should be in service by 2016. Testing and integration has already been done on South African Air Force (SAAF) Gripen C/Ds, which should accelerate the integration of the weapon onto Brazilian Gripen NGs when these are delivered from 2018. Brazil had originally planned to integrate the A-Darter onto its fleet of F-5s but with the purchase of the Gripen NG this has been cancelled as the Gripen will replace the F-5 fleet.

In addition to the Gripen, Denel Dynamics is also integrating the A-Darter onto the SAAF’s Hawk Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT), a process which will take around two years. There is also talk of integrating the infrared guided weapon onto Brazil’s AMX aircraft.

Components for the 20 km range missile are manufactured in South Africa and Brazil, with extensive technology transfer and integration between the industries of the two countries. As South Africa is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), it has done most of the development but ultimately production will take place in both countries on separate production lines.

Deon Olivier, Business Development Executive at Denel Dynamics, said that Brazil will initially buy a hundred missiles for its Gripens as part of an initial production run of around 250 missiles. He said that beyond South Africa and Brazil, other countries have expressed interest in the weapon.

Brazilian defence minister Celso Amorim visited South Africa in March and stopped by Denel Dynamics’ facilities in Centurion to see A-Darter progress first-hand. Whilst in the country he discussed further cooperation in the field of air-to-air missiles. Amorim and defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula agreed to strengthen the relationship between the defence industries of both countries. One project that is moving forward is the joint development of a new air-to-air missile with a range of up to 100 km. Called Marlin by Denel Dynamics, the new weapon will feature a radar seeker head and will be developed into an all-weather surface-to-air missile (SAM) that can be used by South African and Brazilian Navies.

The Marlin technology demonstrator programme was contracted by the Department of Defence through Armscor and will result in a missile that is launched at a target in three to four years’ time. Marlin technology will subsequently be used for Navy, Army and Air Force applications, with synergy achieved due to common subsystems. The missile will use some subsystems and system architecture from Denel’s proven Umkhonto surface-to-air missile and the A-Darter.

More here….

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34694:sa-and-brazil-to-collaborate-on-missiles-post-a-darter&catid=7:Industry&Itemid=116

It seems likely then that the Marlin BVRAAM will go ahead, with a SAM version.
The intention is to use subsystems across the Marlin BVRAAM, A-Darter AAM, and Umkhonto SAM, depending on variant, role, and range.

A-Darter is now cleared for the Gripen, and integration on the Hawk is being carried out.
It will not equip Brazils F-5, only the Gripen.
Production to start next year.

Some further news from LAAD 2013.

It appears the missile demonstrator is called Marlin, of which a model was shown.

Denel Dynamics is developing new surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles as part of a technology demonstrator programme that is leveraging off its experience with the A-Darter, R-Darter and Umkhonto missiles.

Known as Marlin, the all-weather air defence missile technology programme was unveiled at the 9th biennial LAAD Defence and Security International Exhibition held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week.

According to Denel Dynamics, the Marlin technology demonstrator programme was contracted by the Department of Defence through Armscor and will result in a missile that is launched at a target in three to four years’ time.

Marlin technology will subsequently be used for Navy, Army and Air Force applications, with synergy achieved due to common subsystems. The missile will use some subsystems and system architecture from Denel’s proven Umkhonto surface-to-air missile and its A-Darter short-range air-to-air missile.

The performance of the missiles from the Marlin programme is expected to be in the latest generation class relevant to each type. Denel expects the Marlin All-Weather surface-to-air missile (SAM) will have a much larger range than typical Infra-Red SAMs.

At the moment South Africa is seeking a partner to reduce risk on the project and elevate it to a full-scale joint development programme. “With that, comes skills growth and industry job opportunity for both parties,” Denel said. “The outcome of collaboration on Marlin will be a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile for the two Air Forces and an All-Weather Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) for the two Navies and Armies.”

Brazil is being courted as a partner nation, notably due to its involvement in the A-Darter programme, which will near completion towards the end of 2014, as the missile is currently entering the qualification phase.

Jan Wessels, CEO of Denel Dynamics, said there is potential to collaborate further with Latin America in the domain of guided missiles, aerospace, defence and high technology in general. “As seen with the A-Darter programme, this type of initiative can sustain and grow industry,” said Wessels.

“Competitive, indigenous, guided missiles design and development capability serves a number of strategic objectives for both South Africa and other advanced developing nations. Locally developed defence products translate into improved technological capability for both countries and create an independent defence capability that is of strategic importance.”

From a South African industry perspective, Wessels remarked upon the absolute synergy between the Brazilian and South African teams in terms of vision, work ethic and technical capability on the A-Darter project. “We look forward to expanding on this through more joint programmes,” said Wessels, who aims to manage his company to become the technology advancement leader in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and other developing countries.

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30178

Distiller, I don’t want to derail, but I’m not aware of any issues regarding Denel Dynamics customer support.:confused:

Who am I to say anything? 😀
Only: Try to keep their UAV flying off the FedEx path …

Are you kidding me? Getting into all the ITAR trouble? Denel Dynamics customer support alone is ****** enough, don’t need ITAR in the game! :rolleyes:

Distiller, I don’t want to derail, but I’m not aware of any issues regarding Denel Dynamics customer support.:confused:

Not sure why South Africa has not tied up with any major US defense contractors for manufacturing BVRAAMS .

We still remain the best .

Are you kidding me? Getting into all the ITAR trouble? Denel Dynamics customer support alone is ****** enough, don’t need ITAR in the game! :rolleyes:

Read the article again in the first post on this thread lead me to having another look and read through the thread.

The initial missile was called either T-Darter or S-Darter.

The missile now is called B-Darter.

Looking and reading back through this thread, there appear to be 2 different types of BVRAAM exhibited in mock-up form by Denel Dynamics (Kentron).

There is the one that is obviously based on the Integral missile, shown in post number 11 (SOC) and number 18 (myself).
Then there is also the one in post number 17.

I wonder if these two missile concepts were T-Darter and S-Darter, with B-Darter being a refined version of one of the concepts, or a different missile completely, not even necessarily a ramjet?

Either way, just thinking aloud…….

As you say, it would seem to be an ideal project for Brazil to invest in.

The article itself is quite interesting, in that it lifts the lid on some of the projects going on at Denel Dynamics (Kentron).

it appears that, due to the limited needs and funding of the South African Air Force, that the various projects have been tested, but await funding go-ahead to industrialise the systems.

Reading between the lines from this public statement, it appears that the BVRAAM is quite advanced, in the sense that the seeker and motor has been conceptualised, built, and tested.
It now awaits funding to complete development and testing in the open environment, and the industrialisation of the components.

This is the type of project perfectly suited to Brazil, just as the A-Darter is.
The Brazilians are getting a good deal with the A-Darter IMHO, as their funding contribution has given them complete access to this missile, including production at the new factory currently being built in Brazil, construction of which is being overseen by Denel.

Not sure why South Africa has not tied up with any major US defense contractors for manufacturing BVRAAMS .

We still remain the best .

Not sure why the USA insists on buying US-made in the cases where there’s something better available.

Now, shall we drop all this & get back to the topic?

Not sure why South Africa has not tied up with any major US defense contractors for manufacturing BVRAAMS .

We still remain the best .

That’s quite a broad statement.

And there are instances when particular US missiles have not been the best.

There is also the unreliability that the US brings wrt the political dynamic and supply to some countries or regions, depending on the political flavour of the month.

You’d wonder then why some countries, even with access to US missiles, have chosen not to purchase them.
And indeed, why some countries have developed their own systems.

As an example, could you perhaps discuss the advantages the AIM-9X has over the A-Darter?
You may include the AIM-9X Block II still in development if you wish.

Not sure why South Africa has not tied up with any major US defense contractors for manufacturing BVRAAMS .

We still remain the best .

The missile seems to be called B-Darter, a designation I’d never heard of before.

Resurrecting this thread, I stumbled upon this article from about a year ago.

The A-Darter is now rapidly approaching qualification. Integration of the AAM onto the Hawk fighter-trainer is proceeding in parallel. The SAAF will receive training missiles and operational capability from 2013 on. There are also plans and proposals to develop further versions of the A-Darter, such as an A-Darter Light, an A-Darter Extended Range, and an A-Darter ASM, as well as projects to continue the development of the current missile to create an A-Darter Mark (Mk) 2 and later an A-Darter Mk 3.

In addition to the A-Darter, the company has a project to develop a new radar-guided, beyond-visual-range AAM (BVRAAM), currently known as the B-Darter. This will be based on ten years of investment since the deployment of South Africa’s last indigenous BVRAAM, the V4.

Central to this project has been the development of powerful radar technology compact enough to fit into the airframe of a BVRAAM. (Denel Dynamics has confirmed that this technology will be directly employed for the seeker head of the radar-guided version of the Umkhonto.)

“We are ready to produce a BVRAAM demonstrator,” affirms Wilson. “But we need an investment partner for full-scale industrial development, like on the A-Darter. At home, we need government support and a user requirement from the SAAF.”

The proposed B-Darter would probably have a maximum range greater than 80 km. “Our target is to be in the middle of the market –medium range and medium cost,” she asserts.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-african-missile-company-provides-sandf-and-friendly-countries-with-force-multipliers-2011-08-26

The rest of the article in the link is quite interesting about current products, and what is in the pipeline.

It appears from this that the Umkhonto-R SAM, which will be radar guided, will share the same seeker family as the BVRAAM. It appears as if quite a lot of work has gone into the missile.

One hopes that Brazil will look at joining the project, as they’ve done with the A-Darter.

Look like Raand opps sorry Raad[pak] to me

yep change the shape of MUPSOW and air intake and controls and stretch the airframe and you will have Raad ALCM 😀

MUPSOW

Look like Raand opps sorry Raad[pak] to me

Is LRAAM ramjet BVRAAM missile IR guided:confused:

The picture posted is a mock-up, and therefore may represent various technologies that were being worked upon. Perhaps the BVRAAM will have dual sensors?