A wireframe fighter jet sits on a computer chip. (Getty images / Breaking Defense graphic)
EDINBURGH — Dozens of Anglo-French companies came together in Edinburgh, Scotland this week to showcase generation-after-next missile technology being developed as part of the Complex Weapons Innovation and Technology Partnership (CW ITP).
Findings from a total of 26 research projects were presented at the event with a focus on 10 “enduring technology areas,” which included mission systems and algorithms, electro-optical and radio frequency seekers, fuzing, lethality, rocket motors, air breathing engines, materials and electronics.
Presenters and attendees discussed other key topics on the defense landscape, from quantum tech to munitions for next-gen airframes and the current state of complex weapon production.
In his keynote speech at the event, the UK MoD’s director for defence science and technology (DST), Nicholas Joad highlighted ongoing “global turbulence” and warned of “near term stockpile drivers” which required France and the UK to replenish ammunition and complex weapons donated to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2021.
“Complex weapons are not quick to produce and that’s going to be an issue for us,” he said.
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Co-sponsored by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) and France’s Defense Innovation Agency (AID) to the tune of £10 million ($12.1 million) per year, the CW ITP has been running for two years and follows on from the Materials and Components for Missiles (MCM) ITP which concluded in October 2021.
Led by a core team of industry partners including MBDA, Leonardo, Thales, Roxel, Safran and CEA, technology areas are designed to support a variety of use cases which include tactical and deep strike, surface and force protection, and air dominance.
Recently concluded or ongoing research projects promoted at the CW ITP event included “Hybrid Rocket Powered Missile” technology which considers how to provide munitions with “smart thrust control and high maneuverability with a supersonic-capable, single engine running from Mach 0-5”, according to event material.
Additional highlights included “Distributed Antennas for GNSS Anti-Jam” (DAGA) which demonstrated how a missile can defeat a higher number of GNSS jammers through the integration of additional antennas.
Quantum ‘Disruptors’
CW ITP participants also presented a series of “disruptor” concepts, which included the Quantum Optimization Path Planning Algorithm (QOPPA). This project aims to provide optimal route planning for missiles, enabling them to minimize fuel consumption and exposure to radar signals while on route to a target, according to company officials from MBDA and quantum computer maker Pasqal.
“We are looking to gain maturity to optimize the future deployment of quantum computing and anticipate the future framework expansion to other use cases,” an MBDA official explained before confirming hardware experimentation will take place over the next two years following the successful conclusion of feasibility evaluation earlier this year.
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Looking to the future, the MBDA official also confirmed CW ITP will consider how quantum computing could support swarms of missiles in a saturation attack but warned it could be a long time before missiles or even aircraft are able to carry their own quantum computers due to size, weight and power constraints.
“The size of the Pasqal [quantum] computer is quite big and increasing Qubits and miniaturizing the computer is a really huge engineering problem. The most important thing is to raise numbers of Qubits to provide quantum advantage and then start to think about how to miniaturize that. Our priority is to achieve certain number of Qubits,” the official said before suggesting data link connectivity could network missiles to quantum computers beyond line of sight in the interim period.
MBDA’s director for future systems, Bruno Verzotti also explained to delegates how CW ITP technologies could be of interest to sixth-generation combat air programs including the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and UK-Italy-Japan Global Combat Air Program (GCAP).
“I don’t think we can afford not to cooperate,” he said. “We have had 25 years of competition between Rafale and Typhoon and that didn’t stop MBDA from providing Meteor and Storm Shadow/Scalp to both [and] making them world class aircraft. If we are able to cooperate on a successor to Meteor, that would be perfect.”
What 6th Gen Fighters Might Fire
Referring to the internal weapons bay requirements of both FCAS and GCAP aircraft, Verzotti also outlined emerging demand signals for “compact and mini missiles”.
“There is a real market for capacity and micro missiles in the battlefield in terms of air dominance and force protection areas. We need small missiles and this is a strong opportunity [for industry],” he added.
MBDA UK’s director of engineering, Richard Wray also described efforts to “miniaturize” technologies to optimize space savings within the internal weapons bays of sixth-generation aircraft.
“We have to maximize the differentiation of a system. For example, we need to have the ability to integrate the biggest motor possible or maximize space for effects. Miniaturization will be an important aspect,” he said.
The CW ITP also touched upon hypersonic technologies although MBDA’s Verzotti said there is currently no “identified cooperation” between the UK and France in terms of hypersonic technology.
“We could go our own ways but we will still benefit from low TRL technology to benefit hypersonics which must be seen as a compliment to supersonic and not a replacement. Speed is an attribute we want to deploy to overcome complex problems so CW ITP is a great place at low technology readiness levels to start looking at this problem.”
“We have to think carefully about ‘bang for buck’ in the [CW ITP] collaboration. We really want what you’ve got and we want to carry on with the collaboration but we are going to be quite tough in getting what we want,” he warned industry.
Also addressing delegates at the event was the deputy director of France’s AID, Brigadier General Nicolas Cordier-Lallouet, who described how “low cost, civilian innovations were having a very powerful effect on the battlefield”.
“We need to adapt to this to know how to react and be at the front edge of civilian, low cost technology which can have a real effect on the battlefield,” he said before also highlighting quantum technology and AI as well as hypervelocity and directed energy weapons.
“We have to be ready for conflict in many more fields than before and we have to prepare technologies for this as well,” Cordier-Lallouet added while referencing operations in space and on the seabed.
Finally, Joad confirmed UK and French commitment to CW ITP “beyond 2025” and suggested moves to expand on collaboration and develop a “portfolio approach” which could include joint systems development and procurement in the future.
“In the next phase of ITP, there’s going to be new exploitation opportunities coming up,” he concluded. The CW ITP is scheduled to next meet in France in 2025.
Officials also disclosed CW ITP’s next “Dynamic Challenge” for 2024 which will seek “inspiration from nature” including ecological designs, biomimicry for sustainability and other new innovations. This could include swarming of missiles as well as collaborative combat concepts, an event official suggested.
