European missile maker MBDA has unveiled a pair of new weapons – a heavyweight, low-cost cruise missile and a glide-configured version of its Spear air-to-ground munition – both designed to deliver mass at a more affordable price point.
Called Crossbow, the turbojet-powered “one-way effector, heavy” can deliver a 300kg (660lb) payload on deep-strike missions of up to 430nm (800km).
Development of the “battle-ready capability” has been conducted at “massive pace”, an MBDA executive told media ahead of the DSEI show.
“It has gone from design – literally a piece of paper – to being demonstration-ready in the fourth quarter, literally seven months.”
The exact timing and location of any demonstration will hinge on customer commitment, however.
“We are ready to engage with any customer, whether it’s from the export domain or a domestic customer,” the executive says.
“[A firing demonstration] will be enabled by a customer and we are talking to a number at the moment about that possibility.”
MBDA says the Crossbow development activity has been spurred by its own “analysis of the changes to threat environment” rather than any defined customer requirement.
In September last year the UK Ministry of Defence launched Project Brakestop, aiming to develop a new deep-strike capability.
MBDA declines to address that programme directly but says the flexibility inherent in the Crossbow design will allow it to “meet any requirement laid down by a domestic or export customer that is trying to operate in the deep and are able to deliver mass through that capability”.
Should a customer sign up for the munition, production “at scale” could begin in the second quarter of 2026.
To achieve that goal, MDBA has maximised the use of commercial or military off-the-shelf components in the Crossbow, ensuring “robustness in the supply chain”.
Partners include Czech Republic-based turbojet manufacturer PBS, Norwegian ammunition specialist Nammo, plus drone developer Modini and defence aerospace firm Marshall, both in the UK.
He says the Crossbow takes the “expertise” from MBDA’s complex-weapons portfolio “and brings it to bear on a new low-cost, affordable deep-strike capability” but also “giving it the edge to survive in the battlespace”.
MBDA’s current specifications show the weapon will be around 5.3m (17ft) long, with a 350mm (14in) diameter and a 3m wingspan. It can be deployed from a single- or two-shot launcher that will be integrated onto a standard army truck.
Crossbow will use a “modular” payload that can be either supplied by MBDA or drawn from a customer’s own stocks. “If they want to take something from their own inventory… it can be integrated quite quickly into the overall effector.”
Additionally, Crossbow will be capable of operating in contested environments, using a new AI-equipped, image recognition-based navigation system to overcome GNSS-denied scenarios.
That system has been developed in partnership with the UK’s Defence Science & Technology Laboratory and will also be used on the new Spear Glide munition.
Under consideration for the last two or three years as a “lower, cheaper variant of the Spear product line” that addresses the demand for a “medium-range utility strike weapon”, work on the Spear Glide has “accelerated” over the last 18 months, says another MBDA business development executive.
Configured for the destruction of enemy air defences, Spear Glide can deliver “a saturation capability” because of the “ability to manufacture at rate and the lower cost of the weapon”.
Changes over the baseline Spear model include the removal of the turbojet motor and fuel system and the replacement of the RF seeker with an electro-optical/infrared seeker.
MBDA says three principles guided the development: cost, the ability to manufacture at rate, and rapid integration onto a platform.
Commonality with other models in the Spear product line will aid the latter goal, the executive says. “If you already have one of the weapons on your platform, it’s a very small delta to integrate Spear Glide into your platform.”
The munition will be carried on a standard three- or four-shot launcher and is being aimed at the market for fourth-generation fighters like the Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Gripen and Korea Aerospace Industries KF-21.
“You would still get a high load out and because of some of the interfaces on the platforms out there today, a very quick integration approach could be taken.”
Guided firings of the main Spear weapon from the Typhoon have already generated “a lot of data”, he notes.
“If I compare this with the competition, yes, we might have to develop our glide variant, but actually [that] isn’t the pacing component and I think we could get a weapon onto a platform a lot quicker than the competition.”
Noting that Spear Glide has already passed the assessment phase and is a “mature concept”, MBDA says fielding of the weapon could take place within two and a half to three years of contract award: “We are looking for a customer partner, to accelerate the programme” it adds.
Additionally, common logistics, handling and training “also greatly reduce your overall cost of acquisition for the product,” the executive adds.
Although reluctant to provide detailed specifications, MBDA says the around 100kg Spear Glide will offer a range and price point that is “competitive and comparable” with existing glide weapons such as the Raytheon StormBreaker or Rafael Spice 250.
As a guideline, range will be in the region of 43-53nm, it says, adding that the key differentiators will be the cost, ease of integration and the munition’s guidance capability.
