UK signs top-up order for Brimstone missiles

21 January 2013 by Craig Hoyle - FG

London - MBDA is to top up the UK Royal Air Force's inventory of dual-mode seeker-equipped Brimstone air-to-surface missiles, in a deal worth £14 million ($22 million).

"This contract will increase UK stocks by replenishing weapons used so effectively in Afghanistan and Libya," the Ministry of Defence says. It declines to provide exact details, but confirms that the new order covers the supply of hundreds of weapons.

"Brimstone has become a vital part of our modern and sophisticated arsenal of precision strike weapons. It is very popular with our air crews because of its flexibility, accuracy and reliability," says Wg Cdr Andy Turk, officer commanding the RAF's Panavia Tornado GR4-equipped 9 Sqn. Home-based at Marham in Norfolk, the unit is supporting the NATO International Security Assistance Force from Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan.