At DSEI, Thales is showcasing its Free Fall LMM, an unpowered, air dropped variant in its Lightweight Multi-role Missile (LMM) family of precision strike weapons. Speaking to MT, Mick Oliver, business development director of advanced weapons at Thales, explained that unlike the LMM, StarStreak, there is no rocket propellant in the FF LMM. The latest weapon also has a different guidance method with SAL being used for terminal guidance while there is the option of GPS for mid course corrections. Envisaged as a weapon for CAS and armed ISTAR missions on both light to medium manned and unmanned platforms, FF LMM has a low drag design and weighs almost 6 kg with a stand off range in excess of 4km when operating at an altitude of 10,000ft being given by Thales. Weighing 2kg, FF LMM 's warhead combines a shaped charge penetrator with a pre-fragemented blast warhead with matching proximity fuze. Unlike rocket propelled weapons, FF LMM can strike targets behind and besides the platform it is dropped from with ease while it can deal with both stationary and moving targets using a top attack method. In the US, Thales has teamed with Textron, which offers the FF LMM as the FURY. Textron's main aim with FURY is the SHADOW family of tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Oliver indicated that further testing with FF LMM/Fury will be conducted in the US this year with the country being considered "a major market." Oliver also said Thales had joined forces with IOMAX and LH Aviation for offering FF LMM on their Border Patrol Aircraft (BPA) and LH-10 ELLIPSE respectively.
Pieter Bastiaans
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