Tim Ripley/DUBAI
South Africa guided weapons company Kentron has unveiled its 300km (180mi) range Torgos cruise missile for the first time at Dubai 2000.
The new missile is a development of the existing family of precision guided weapons from Kentron, a division of the Denel Group.
"Torgos has been designed with low mass, coupled with stealthy characteristics and high manoeuvrability," says Denel spokesman Sam Basch. "For its primary role as a multi-purpose, long-range precision strike weapon, Torgos is designed to neutralise hardened targets of high strategic value.
"Its cruciform tail control makes it particularly manoeuvrable in the terminal phase of attack, which also enables Torgos to hit moving targets of opportunity."
Kentron has been involved in the development of guided weapons and missiles since the early 1970s. Its Raptor television guided glide bomb was used operationally during the 1980s. A series of variants have since been developed from this weapon for a number of customers.
"Torgos is a natural evolution from Kentron's MUPSOW (Multi-Purpose Stand-Off Weapon) advanced technology demonstrator programme," says Basch. "The latter's primary role is that of a sub-munition dispensing system, for day/night precision strike operations over long range, to neutralise targets such as airfields, air defence systems, strategic installations and command-and-control centres."
The Torgos has two modes of operation: Man-in-the-loop (MITL) through a dedicated communications link allows the pilot to direct the weapon to its target; and automatic target recognition (ATR) which uses the latest generation of thermal imagers to identify targets for attack.
Denel says the weapon, which weighs less than 1,000kg (2,200lb), has a miss distance better than 2m (6ft) and can be carried by Dassault Mirage 2000, Saab JAS-39A Gripen and Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft.
"We are offering the Torgos to prospective joint venture partners, with both MTL and autonomous ATR capability," says Basch. "The Raptor range, which is still in series production, along with the MUPSOW and Torgos, offers prospective clients a family of stand-off weapon systems to fulfil their requirements.
Source: Flight Daily News
