The South African Navy & Marine and Coastal Management: Tag Umkhonto

SA Hopes Brazil Will Join Another Missile Project

admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:16:00 +0000

A Brazilian report has stated that South Africa's State-owned defence industrial group Denel is proposing that the Brazilian Navy cooperate with it in the development of the radar-guided version of Denel Dynamics' Umkhonto naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), designated Umkhonto-R. If so, this would parallel the current cooperation between Denel Dynamics and the Brazilian Air Force in the development of the A-Darter air-to-air missile. It is known that Denel is seeking to widen its cooperation with Brazil, with Unmanned Air Vehicles likely to be the next area of partnership. The Brazilian and South African Navies will start high-level staff talks late next month (November) and it is believed that this would provide the ideal opportunity for the South African Navy to lobby the Brazilians to join the Umkhonto-R programme. The original, infrared-homing, version of the Umkhonto, designated Umkhonto-IR, is now in service with the South African and Finnish Navies and is being seriously considered by the Swedish Navy. Radar homing would give the missile greater range. While the slant (as distinct from vertical, or horizontal) range of the Umkhonto-IR is believed to be 14 km, that for the Umkhonto-R would, reportedly, be 20 km. (The Denel Dynamics public brochure for the Umkhonto-IR states "Range: 12 000 m", and gives a ceiling of 8 000 m.)

The South African Department of Defence is, it seems, providing funding for the Umkhonto-R project, but this is not likely to be enough to allow a purely national development of the programme within a reasonable time. (If a weapon system takes too long to develop, it becomes obsolete before it even enters service.) Hence Denel's, and South Africa's, reported desire for a partner.

The engagement sequence for the Umkhonto-IR is as follows: the warship detects a target on its acquisition radar and launches the missile against it; the SAM uses its on-board inertial navigation subsystem to fly itself to a "lock-on point" - the location at which its IR seeker can acquire the target and lock on to it - and then guide itself to interception. However, for the Umkhonto-R, it is reported that, after target detection and missile launch, the SAM would be steered towards the target by commands from the warship, activating its radar seeker when within range, locking on to, and then intercepting, the target.

Unlike the South African navy, the Brazilian Navy already operates radar-guided SAMs, namely the Italian Aspide, with a published range of greater than 15 km. Although the Brazilians rate this as a very good missile, they are, however, merely users of it - they have no mastery of radar-homing technology. Cooperation with South Africa in the Umkhonto-R programme would provide an opportunity for the Brazilians to gain this expertise.

However, there is a potential problem. The Umkhonto (both -IR and -R versions) is designed to use vertical launch systems (VLS) and not traditional trainable launchers.

In a VLS each missile is accomodated in its own silo, and this arrangement has many advantages over traditonal systems, with the result that VLS is being adopted nearly universally for new-build warships. But almost all of a VLS is accomodated below deck, not above deck as with traditional launchers. This requires that the ship have significant internal volume to accomodate the VLS. And Brazil's existing frigates and corvettes do not have the necessary internal volume to host VLS, meaning they cannot carry the Umkhonto. On the other hand, the Umkhonto-R could be fitted to Brazil's bigger ships - the aircraft carrier and four or five amphibious ships - which have plenty of internal volume available. So this is not an automatic deal-wrecker.

The Brazilian Navy has its own research and development agency, the Naval Research Institute (IPqM are its initials in Portuguese). The IPqM is based in Rio de Janeiro and is subordinated to the Navy Science, Technology, and Innovation Secretariat. The Institute has successfully developed weapons and electronic systems that are now in service with the Brazilian Navy, including electronic support measures (ESM), a tactical control system for warships, a monitoring and conmtrol system for ships' engines, a chaff launching system, and sea mines. Projects it is currently working on include an electronic countermeasures (ECM) system, radar absorbing materials, ceramic armour, and an inertial navigation system. The IPqM has close ties with Brazilian industry and would presumably be the lead Brazilian institution in a joint Umkhonto-R programme.

Source: Engineering News

Umkhonto Missiles to Equip Visby Corvettes?

admin — Fri, 11 May 2007 11:18:00 +0000

Visby class - Image: Unknown (Defense Industry Daily)

Forecast International reports that Sweden has decided to equip its 5 Visby Class stealth corvettes with Denel's Umkhonto-IR anti-aircraft missile system (and see PDF brochure) at a total cost of about SEK 1 billion (currently about $149.6 million). The deal has yet to be approved by the Swedish parliament. This Umkhonto ("spear") relies on inertial guidance coordinates transmitted by the attached 3-D radar, followed by lock-on after launch with the infared seeker. The entire system is capable of engaging up to 8 targets, and has a range of 12 km and a maximum intercept altitude of about 10 km/ 33,000 feet. Umkhonto is currently in service on Finland's Hamina class missile boats and Hameenmaa class minelayers, on South Africa's new Meko Class frigates, and by the South African Army as a land-based SAM system.

Forecast International adds that the stealthy Visby corvette program has received other setbacks and downgrades lately. Earlier in 2007, the new 127 mm ALECTO Anti-Submarine rocket system with its 2 trainable 6-rocket launchers had its development stopped. Visby corvettes will carry RBS15 Mk2 anti-ship missiles with half the range of the Mk3 variant, though their 100km range and warhead punch will still outclass the USA's much larger Littoral Combat Ships by a wide margin. Unlike the LCS, however, Visby class ships won't have an enclosed helicopter hangar, since the ship wouldn't allow enough room for the planned A-109 HKP-15SBO.

A Swedish DID reader takes issue with Forecast International's characterization, however, and also offers an explanation for the Umkhonto's selection....

Umkhonto's range is not that much larger than Saab Sweden's own 8km coverage, unjammable RBS-70 Bolide missile, which can be linked with radars and has been adopted by a number of armies and navies. Saab also makes the medium-range BAMSE system with 50% better coverage than Umkhonto-IR.

On the other hand, Umkhonto missiles can be fired from vertical launch cells that do not break the ship's stealth profile, can act as industrial offsets for South Africa's JAS-39 Gripen purchase, and received good reviews from Finland.

Swedish government planning to buy the Umkhonto-IR SAM

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:46:00 +0000

The Swedish government wants to buy the South African Umkhonto-IR SAM system for the five Visby corvettes for at total cost of about 1 bn SEK. This system is capable of engaging up to 8 targets and has a range of 12 km. It has been bought also by Finland for their Hamina class missile boats and Hämeenmaa minelayers. The deal has to be approved by the Swedish parliament.

If approved it will be the second naval SAM system adopted by the RSwN through time. In 1963-67 the four Östergötland class destroyers were equipped with the British Seacat SAM system (RB 07 in Sw) with a HSA M4 director.

Since earlier it has been known that the new 127 mm ALECTO ASW rocket system (with two trainable sixtuple launchers) will not be installed on Visby, and that the development of this system has been stopped. Furthermore the Visby class corvettes will have to do with 100 km RBS 15 Mk2 surface-to-surface missiles instead of the latest 200 km Mk3 missiles. The Mk2 version has been in service in the RSwN (onboard corvettes and missile boats) since 1998, and are really only updated Mk1 missiles. According to the old Sw naval magazine Marinnytt however the Mk2 version is very close to the Mk3 version, and really only lacks the range of the latter.

Finally it also seems now as if there will be no integrated hull hangar for the onboard HKP 15 helo, and that the modification and shortening of the tail on the 8 A-109 HKP 15 SBO (Ship Based Operations) ordered is totally unnecessary.

Source: Warships1 and NavWeaps Discussion Boards

Navy tests missile defence system

admin — Tue, 09 May 2006 08:39:00 +0000

(Note: This news item is from 15 Dec 2005)

South Africa has joined the handful of nations to have fielded operational naval anti-missile air defence systems, the navy said on Wednesday.

Up to now the club included just the United States, Britain, France, Russia and India.

The navy said it late last month fired two Umkhonto (Spear) missiles to certify the ability of the patrol corvette SAS Amatola to defend itself against missile attack.

Denel Male UAV on First Overseas Visit

admin — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:03:00 +0000

Having shown a mock-up of its 'Bateleur' Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the first time in late 2004, Denel opted for the Dubai International airshow to display it abroad for the first time. A scale model of the 'Bateleur' is to be seen at the airshow that started on Monday. According to Jan Wessels, Denel Aerospace Systems General Manager, the initial development rationale with the 'Bateleur' was to meet the anticipated South African Navy and South African Air Force's Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) requirement. "Since then several clients, notably also in the Middle East, have shown keen interest in our 'Bateleur' MALE UAV. With around 20 years' experience in operating UAVs, Denel is well-positioned to complement its existing capabilities with a MALE version," Wessels said.