Fire Shadow

Design

Fire Shadow weighs less than 200 kg and is relatively cheap. It is surface-launched and has a range of approximately 100 km; it can fly to a target area and then loiter for approximately six hours before precision attack on a specific target. Test launches have been performed from a trailer on land.

A Royal Navy brochure released in January 2009 revealed that Fire Shadow was compatible with the space envelope of the SYLVER vertical launch system of the Type 45 destroyer but this option has not been mentioned since the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010. MBDA have pursued Maritime Fire Shadow as a private venture, with no customers as yet. Their marketing materials at DSEi in September 2011 showed what appeared to be a similar launcher to that used on land, lashed to the helicopter deck of a frigate or helicopter carrier.

Progress and cancellation

The first complete test firing (a test of flight, navigation and control systems) took place on 21 November 2010 at Vidsel, Sweden, followed by a second on 13 May 2011. Operator training started in 2011, with the first deliveries of production systems in March 2012. It was planned that 39th Regiment Royal Artillery would be the first unit to receive the system and would deploy it operationally in Afghanistan by 2012. This plan, however, never materialised.

In 2013, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported in its 2013 Major Projects Report that after spending £207 million, the Ministry of Defence had yet to decide on a future for the project. However, Fire Shadow was listed in the National Audit Office's 2014 Major Projects Report as being among the eleven largest equipment projects where the Ministry of Defence has taken the main decision to invest. After a period in 'limbo' Fire Shadow was cancelled in the UK's 2017-2018 defence budget.

References

References

1. "MBDA delivers first Fire Shadow loitering weapons". [[Flightglobal]].
2. (11 July 2011). "House of Commons Written Answers". UK Parliament.
3. "Fire Shadow Takes To The Sea". Aviation Week.
4. (22 January 2009). "TYPE 45 - The Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer". Royal Navy.
5. (16 September 2011). "MBDA propose une munition rodeuse pour les marines". Mer et Marine.
6. Eshel, Tamir. (14 September 2011). "British Army Sets to Deploy Fire Shadow Loitering Weapons to Afghanistan by Early 2012". Defense Update.
7. (November 2023). "After Libya, Europe Eyes Precision Arms".
8. Hoyle, Craig. (21 Mar 2012). "MBDA delivers first Fire Shadow loitering weapons". Flight International.
9. Hoyle, Craig. (10 Jan 2013). "Fresh delay hits UK complex weapons programmes". Flight International.
10. (May 2019). "Major Projects Report 2014 and the Equipment Plan 2014 to 2024". National Audit Office.
11. Bureau. (25 July 2018). "UK Scraps Fire Shadow Loitering Munitions Program Incurring Loss of $148 Million".