DSEI 2025: MBDA accelerating work on Spear Glide strike weapon
A concept graphic of MBDA's Spear Glide Strike weapons. (MBDA)
MBDA has cited progress in navigation and targeting algorithms as it seeks to get closer to a contract award for its Spear Glide air-launched strike weapon, the company revealed for the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025 exhibition being held in London from 9 to 12 September.
MBDA is conducting front end and warhead testing on Spear Glide, a company business development executive for the programme told Janes at a briefing on 29 August.
The executive said Spear Glide would have to be a mature product before it can be integrated onto the F-35, adding that it is awaiting further system integration on various other aircraft including the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Spear Glide is as yet attached to no formal programme of record. MBDA is looking for a customer partner to help develop it further, said the executive, estimating it was two-and-a-half to three years away from contract award. âWe've completed the assessment phase which has been fully self-fundedâ, he said.
This system is marketed as a competitor to those like Raytheon's Stormbreaker precision glide bomb, with MBDA saying Spear Glide has a high-rate production design with minimal reliance on bespoke subsystems and is International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) free.
Weighing 100 kg with a 2 m length, the kinetic energy penetrator (KEP) means Spear Glide's range, which the executive did not give, is what he termed âcomparable to the glide competitionâ, while being smaller than systems with propulsion.
Go beyond the headlines - with direct links to interconnected entities
Get full access to validated equipment, military capabilities, and market insights.
