With demand for air-launched counter-drone capability having spiked due to the conflict in the Middle East, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is to place a further order for Thales-produced Marlet Lightweight Multirole Missiles.
Produced in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Martlet weapon was recently deployed to the UK’s Akrotiri air base in Cyprus, for use by deployed Royal Navy (RN) Leonardo Helicopters Wildcats.
The precision-guided missile can be used to target one-way attack drones, such as those launched against Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri amid Iran’s retaliation during the early stages of the US and Israeli air campaign against its leadership.
Announcing the development on 18 March, the MoD said: “The UK intends to buy further Lightweight Multirole Missiles, to supply British forces and support partners in the [Middle East] region, including with training in the UK where needed.”
Meanwhile, without elaborating, it adds that the defensive weapon has “already proven highly capable for air defence in the Middle East”.
Three Wildcat HMA2s arrived at RAF Akrotiri earlier this month, along with a single RN Leonardo AW101 Merlin rotorcraft in the Crowsnest airborne surveillance and control configuration.
Up to 10 Martlets can be carried by the Wildcat, using five-round launchers installed either side of the rotorcraft’s weapons wing.
After achieving Mach 1.5 after launch and with a reported range of 3-5nm (6-9km), the lightweight missile “is highly manoeuvrable and remarkably lethal”, the RN has said.
As well as its employment by the RN, which late last year declared full operational capability paired with the Wildcat, the UK has already supplied hundreds of Martlet rounds to Ukraine to bolster its counter-drone defences.
Separately, in its most recent operational update from the Middle East, the MoD says RAF Eurofighter Typhoons and Lockheed Martin F-35Bs “continued to conduct defensive air patrols over Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the Eastern Mediterranean” on the night of 17 March. In-flight refuelling support is provided by the service’s Airbus Defence & Space A330 Voyager tankers.
On 16 March, the MoD said that British pilots had accumulated more than a combined 550 flight hours during defensive counter-air operations performed since the Iran conflict began on 28 February.
“The UK now has more jets in the region than at any period in the past 15 years,” it added, referring to deployments made to RAF Akrotiri and at a joint Typhoon squadron in Qatar.
