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South
Africa, Brazil now working
together on missile programme
(text in portuguese Link)
Keith
Campbell
A
team of specialists from the Aerospace Technical Centre
(CTA) of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) is now in South Africa
to participate in the further development of Denel's A-Darter
air-to-air missile (AAM).
The contract, covering Brazilian participation in the financing
and development of the A-Darter, was signed only a few weeks
ago, after several delays, apparently requested by the South
African side; the reason for the delays is not known.
Originally, it had been hoped that the signing would take
place in late March or early April.
The contract is actually between, on the one side, the Brazilian
Ministry of Defence and the FAB and, on the other, South
Africa's defence procurement, disposal and research and
development agency Armscor, part of the South African Depart-ment
of Defence.
It is, thus, a high-level agreement between government departments
on both sides of the Atlantic.
A certain amount of development of the A-Darter has already
taken place, funded entirely by South Africa.
In terms of the agreement with Brazil, the South American
country will fund 50% of the costs of completing the missile's
development.
So
far, Brazil has allocated $52-million to the A-Darter programme,
but some defence media sources (Defesa@Net)
in that country estimate that Brazil's investment in the
A-Darter could reach $100-million or even more.
Just
how far the development of the A-Darter has proceeded has
not been revealed; but the FAB has stated that it expects
the missile to enter service in 2015, nine years from now,
which suggests that a lot of work still has to be done.
Until
now, the A-Darter was being developed by State-owned defence
industrial group Denel's main missile and unmanned air vehicle
division, Denel Aerospace Systems (formerly known as Kentron),
under contract from Armscor.
The
Brazilian specialists, who currently number five, are now
working with their South African counterparts on the development
of the missile. In addition, one or more Brazilian private-sector
defence companies will, in due course, become involved in
the programme.
The CTA is known to be holding talks with missile-maker
Mectron (manufacturer of Brazil's first indigenous AAM,
the MAA-1 Piranha, which the A-Darter will replace in service),
rocket, missile and armoured vehicle maker Avibras, and
strategic systems software house Atech.
Such involvement is necessary on the Brazilian side because
the CTA is a research and development (R&D) organisation,
with no capacity for industrialisation and series manufacture.
Interestingly,
as long ago as October 18, 2002, Engineering News reported
that Denel Aerospace Systems, then called Kentron, was holding
talks with Avibras and Mectron over possible cooperation.
The
A-Darter will be a fifth-generation, infrared (IR) homing
weapon.
For
example, the A-Darter will have a longer range than current
IR-homing missiles (which are short-range weapons) and will,
after launch, reportedlly be able to turn 180º and
hit targets behind the launch aircraft.
Meanwhile,
it has become clear that the FAB will not select Denel's
R-Darter to be its beyond-visual-range AAM (BVRAAM).
Instead,
this contract will go to the Israelis, for the Derby BVR-AAM
from Rafael.
Although it is generally believed in defence circles (it
has never been confirmed) that both the R-Darter and the
Derby stem from the same cooperative South African/Israeli
programme, the Israeli missile, benefiting from Israel's
much higher defence and associated R&D budgets, and
more urgent operational needs, has been developed further
than the South African weapon.
The
Derby is, thus, more advanced, with additional capabilities,
than the R-Darter.
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