Get all the coverage from Farnborough Air Show on our dedicated landing page
Textron Systems could deliver the Fury precision-guided munition before end of this year.
The company’s lightweight weapon would not replace the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missile, but could help fulfil an insatiable demand for munitions from the US Air Force and US Special Operations Command.
Textron performed tests with its Fury munition on 25 April, which met the required accuracy for the weapon’s terminal guidance against static targets, Brian Sinkiewicz, vice-president of Textron precision weapon systems, told FlightGlobal. Flight tests had been scheduled for earlier this year, but the company delayed testing after making weapon enhancements.
Textron expects to complete development and turn over Fury to US Special Operations Command and Air Force Special Operations Command by the end of this year, Sinkiewicz says. The services have expressed an interest in a small order of the munition – about 10 to 15 – and the company’s partner, Thales, has already opened up discussions with the UK Ministry of Defence.
“The customer has indicated a desire to see a moving target engaged, end-to-end test with guidance, and accurate engagement of a moving target,” Sinkiewicz says. “Due to some issues we ran into, we weren’t able to run that test, so we’ve scheduled tests for later in the year.”
The US Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2017 budget expressed an immediate need to replenish its depleted munitions stocks, including Hellfire missiles. The Fury munition would complement but not replace the Hellfire’s role, which was originally designed as a helicopter-delivered anti-tank weapon and later adapted to unmanned air systems.
Textron tested the munition on the Textron Shadow UAV, but the company has focused its attention on the hundreds of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator, Reaper and Gray Eagle platforms that are heavily utilised by the services. While Textron would not be required to change the munition’s design for these UAVs, the company is creating a rack that can mount three Fury munitions and interface with a Hellfire missile rail, Sinkiewicz says.
Compared with the 45kg (100lb) rocket-motor-propelled Hellfire, which can destroy a tank, the 6kg Fury offers a lighter, precision glide weapon that can prosecute people in vehicles. The lighter design could allow its delivery platform to carry three of the Fury munitions, rather than one large missile.
“Imagine a terrorist in a pickup truck – that’s up our alley,” Sinkiewicz says. “It wouldn’t engage something with heavy armour, but we could do light armour.
“The system is designed to perforate armour, but main battle tanks wouldn’t be a typical target.”
Source: Flight Daily News
