The UK has contracted Thales UK for the future Mounted Short Range Air Defence (MSHORAD) assessment phase, advancing efforts to replace the British Army’s Stormer High Velocity Missile Self-Propelled (HVM SP) system.
This phase focuses on defining a new mobile platform and a multi-mission launcher to meet the MSHORAD requirement.
The contract was signed with Defence Equipment and Support and “supports the next phase of development for future MSHORAD capabilities and modernization of the British Army’s ground-based air defense suite,” Thales stated.
UK MSHORAD
According to a Ministry of Defence notice issued in May last year, the phase is valued at an estimated 48 million pounds ($64 million) and is expected to run through December 2028.
The British Army’s current MSHORAD capability is centered on the Stormer HVM system, which features a roof-mounted launcher equipped with eight Starstreak or Martlet missiles, both developed by Thales.
Operational since the 1990s, the system was designed to counter threats from pop-up helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, with an effective range of up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles).
New Capability
The new system is expected to retain compatibility with existing Starstreak and Martlet missiles while adding capabilities such as a 30mm cannon to counter emerging threats, including drones.
For the base platform requirement, the army could draw on its Land Mobility Program, which aims to replace more than a dozen legacy vehicle types with around 8,000 more capable platforms.
The MSHORAD vehicle is likely to be selected from the Medium Protected Mobility variant of the program, originally intended to replace legacy platforms such as the Mastiff, Ridgeback, and Wolfhound.
Likely Contenders
According to Future Warfare Magazine, New York-based Moog is actively pitching its Reconfigurable Integrated-Weapons Platform (RIwP) for the MSHORAD unit’s multi-mission system requirement and is considered a strong contender for the contract.
The RIwP is a modular turret that can be configured with different weapons depending on mission requirements, including a 30mm cannon, anti-tank guided missiles, and short-range air defense missiles.
Separately, Thales UK signed an agreement with L3Harris Technologies in May last year to develop an integrated short-range air defense command-and-control capability for the UK.
The joint solution will integrate L3Harris’ Target-Oriented Tracking System with Thales’ Agile C4I with the Edge system to improve battlefield coordination and responsiveness.
