Hartmut Bühl, Brussels

MEADS technologies mature to achieve European Air & Missile Defence (AMD) capabilities A breakthrough for the NATO European missile defence initiative

by Hartmut Bühl, Brussels

On 6 November 2013, the MEADS missile defence system developed by the United States, Italy and Germany intercepted and destroyed two targets simultaneously: a QF-4 airbreathing drone coming from the south and a Lance missile that was flying a ballistic missile trajectory from the north.

“No fielded ground mobile air and missile defence can intercept targets from two directions at the same time, as MEADS did today,” said Gregory Kee, Programme manager for NATO after this success.

Italy and Germany will keep working on the basis of MEADS MEADS technology can now be leveraged as mature, networkready battle management, sensors and launchers to achieve the networked Air and Missile Defence (AMD) capabilities envisioned by Germany, Italy and the United States.

The Defence Ministers of Germany and Italy have stated the importance of completing the MEADS programme as the foundation for their planned national air and missile defence capabilities. The development of the MEADS capabilities forms the basis for the German and Italian contributions to the NATO European missile defence initiative. Poland recently expressed strong interest in becoming a MEADS principal. Poland’s air and missile defence requirements are complementary to those of the other two countries.

The MEADS programme The MEADS programme operates on the basis of cooperative development between MBDA Germany, MBDA Italy and Lockheed Martin, USA, using a highly successful industrial model. It is readily extensible to Poland, whereas the established prime contractors for competing systems would likely be offering subcontracts for portions of their production. MEADS is unique in this regard. Since many of the competing systems are production designs, there is not much technology available beyond making parts for additional units. MEADS, however, is completing development testing and finalising production designs, and that opens many more avenues for participation by Polish industry. Officials from Poland also observed the test as they move to launch a competition valued at € 2.2 to 3.7 billion in January for a new air and missile defence system. Successful MEADS dual intercept flight test

photo: MEADS

Better performance but less expensive –an overview MEADS was intended to be the next generation in groundmobile air and missile defence replacing a wide range of western systems. MEADS has many attractive features: it is a multinational programme, it is highly mobile, it permits full NATO interoperability, and it remains the only mediumrange air and missile defence system to provide continuous full 360-degree coverage. According to MEADS International, compared to fielded systems, MEADS is significantly less expensive to own. It uses less manpower and requires 80% less maintenance. A single MEADS battery can defend up to 8 times the area of Patriot, actually in service, using fewer system elements. The MEADS programme employs 1400 skilled workers worldwide. The European missile systems companies MBDA Germany and MBDA Italy employ over 600 at facilities in Rome and Schrobenhausen. Nearly 800 Lockheed Martin employees are working on MEADS at four company locations. In addition, major subcontracts to Selex, Lechmotoren and others expand the MEADS high-tech employment footprint.