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GERMAN MISSILES FOR THE LUFTWAFFE

The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) will acquire two German production missile systems, since the German-French cooperation in the missile sector seems to have failed. Apparently, the fusioning of Aérospatiale's and Dasa's missile businesses has been ultimately shelved, the British decision in favour of the Storm Shadow missile from British Aerospace and Matra lead to a cancellation of the Apache contracts (due to non-fulfillment of the performance and doubling of the price). In light of this development, the stand-off missile Taurus from Dasa and Bofors now has good chances.

Whitehall had made a political decision in favour of the fusioning of BAe's and Matra's missile businesses in spite of the clearly better technical performance and price advantage of the Taurus missile; the alleged reason being to further split the already disturbed German-French alliance.

The prospects for the air-to-air missile Iris-T from Bodenseewerk Gerätetechnik (BGT) are also good after the governmental agreement for a joint development was signed on August 9 by Greece, Italy, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Germany, validating the contract for the project definition phase (worth DM28 million). Germany will be responsible for approximately 50 percent of the costs of the Iris-T program. BGT is the main contractor. Two further successful launch trials at the beginning of July have, again, highlighted the superiority of BGT's seeker head over the competition.

With the new orientation of Germany's Ministry of Defence in mind, insiders are already thinking out loud about national fusions in the missile business. In Farnborough, Hughes and Aérospatiale announced their alliance and participation in the British FMRAAM (Future Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) project. A ram jet engine from Aérospatiale will be combined with the newest seeker head technology, warhead, and electronics.

From page 20 of FLUG REVUE 10/96