The U.K. Will Attack ISIS With a Missile the U.S. Could Only Dream Of

[rangerrebew]

The U.K. Will Attack ISIS With a Missile the U.S. Could Only Dream Of

While American forces fire the trusty Hellfire, British jets are going to drop the precision Brimstone missile on ISIS forces in Syria. So why doesn't the U.S. have this missile?
By David Hambling
Dec 4, 2015 @ 10:46 AM

    Military Weapons

 

​While the British Parliament was debating this week whether to join in airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, one weapon was mentioned repeatedly: Brimstone. In a 36-page report, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "The Brimstone missile which enables us to strike accurately with low collateral damage, therefore increasing the scope for strikes against specific ISIL targets—even the U.S. do not possess this capability."

Indeed, Brimstone proved itself and its capability against tanks in Libya, to the point that the British paper The Telegraph called it the "British missile envied by the U.S." But if the Brimstone really is so great, then why doesn't the US have it?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18410/brimstone-missile-uk-david-cameron-isis/

[Oceander]

Unfortunately, the article doesn't really live up to the hype of the headline.

The final paragraph:

Yet there's no doubt that Brimstone is useful weapon for attacking precision targets, which leaves us with the question of why the United States doesn't have them. There is already a millimeter-wave-guided version of the Hellfire for helicopters, and there have long been plans to replace Hellfire with something better, a missile with both laser and radar guidance, capable of being fired from fast jets, just like Brimstone. Unfortunately, the plans have been repeatedly curtailed to pay for other programs. Defense Industry Daily describes the project as having "enough missile program cancellations and resurrections to make even Lazarus give up."

The latest version, known as JAGM, should be here by 2019, with integration on the F-35 by 2021 or so. It may not be a surprise that MDBA is offering Brimstone as a contender for the JAGM program.  David Cameron's new-found enthusiasm for the missile, and its use to support the U.S. effort in Syria, might just help their case.