Thales UK wins support contract for Starstreak High Velocity Missile system

Thales UK has won a £200m-plus support contract from the UK ministry of defence for its Starstreak close air defence system. The contract, which will be announced today, is for the Starstreak high velocity missile system, designed to counter threats from very high performance, low-flying aircraft.

Starstreak –High Velocity Missile

The HVM is a laser-guided missile.

High Velocity MissileOnce fired, a secondary ignition accelerates the missile to a burn-out velocity of Mach 3.5. Following burn-out, the missile releases three tungsten alloy darts filled with high explosives. These three darts cause damage not only from their explosives but also from their kinetic energy.

The explosives within each dart are impact delayed exploding only after the darts are inside a target. This causes even more damage.

The operator 'paints' the target whilst looking through an aiming unit.