MBDA, a leading European developer and manufacturer of missile systems, announced the introduction of artificial intelligence into the SPEAR family of cruise missiles. /p>
According to the statement, the text of which is posted on the official portal of this trans-European organization, its Selective Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) high-precision strike missiles will be the first family of weapons equipped with the Orchestrike artificial intelligence (AI) tool of its own development for joint strike weapons, ArmyInform reports .
First unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June 2023, Orchestrike software gives airborne weapons the ability to share information with each other to increase survivability, attack rate and lethality.
According to Greg Nunn, MBDA UK's head of tactical strike mission, the company has been refining the concept over the past 12 months through simulation, modeling and experimentation at the Digital Battlespace Facility (DBF) in Stevenage, north of London.
The Orchestrike AI program will increase the effectiveness of SPEAR missiles through coordination, interaction and cooperation between the missiles and the pilot who controls them from the carrier aircraft. This AI capability will enable SPEAR missiles to respond to threats and work with the pilot to solve tactical tasks, increasing both missile and platform survivability and overall mission effectiveness. The missiles will always operate within the parameters set by the operator.
The SPEAR family includes networked cruise missiles developed by MBDA Corporation to meet Air Force requirements to engage and suppress enemy air defenses that destroy moving targets at any what weather conditions and from a safe distance.
MBDA's decision to make the Spear 3 the first Orchestrike-enabled weapon in its portfolio comes as the company prepares for the first launch of the guided missile from the Eurofighter Typhoon — later this year. This will be the first step in the certification of the weapon system design for the missile, paving the way for the integration of the weapon on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
These missiles have advanced mission planning capabilities and can perform complex tasks at long distances while being extremely compact, allowing the F-35 aircraft to carry eight SPEAR missiles in their weapons bays.
At the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, MBDA demonstrated a digital Orchestrike dual simulator that allows military users to experience a simulated raid as missiles respond to tactical missions together. This demonstration highlighted the practical application of Orchestrike's artificial intelligence capabilities in real combat scenarios.
The development of the Orchestrike software was financed by the MBDA Corporation itself and through the attraction of an additional £3.5 million ($4.5 million) from the Defense Laboratory of Science and Technology of Great Britain (DSTL) as part of the Cooperative Strike Weapons Technology Demonstrator (CSWTD) project, agreed in the summer of 2021.
Orchestrike software developers expect that in the future the AI technology can be extended to other munitions with network data transfer capabilities.
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