Fire Shadow: loitering with intent

David Donald

Thursday, 19 June, 2008

Team LM achieved a major milestone on 30 April with the first launch of its Fire Shadow loitering munition (LM), which is being developed as part of the Indirect Fire Precision Attack (IFPA) programme for the UK Ministry of Defence.
Team LM, a consortium led by MBDA, began the programme in January 2007, putting up £10 million in investment. Fire Shadow is a low-cost LM system for use by the Royal Artillery, with particular application against time-critical and fleeting targets. It is fired under the power of a rocket booster, which is jettisoned as the weapon transitions to its sustainer motor – a Wankel rotary engine driving a propeller. Forward-swept wings pop out to provide lift, this layout striking an optimum balance between the conflicting needs of long loiter time and high manoeuvrability for the terminal attack phase.
Fire Shadow has a loiter time of up to 10 hours, and it can operate at more than 100km from the launch point, or further with a radio relay platform. Initially it is to be fitted with a unitary warhead. For the first test, conducted at the Aberporth range in Wales, Fire Shadow was launched from a rail with the wings already deployed forward.
One of the chief aims of the trial was to demonstrate a smooth transition from booster to sustained power. The Wankel engine was started pre-launch, but its propeller clutch was not engaged until the booster had successfully separated. The munition then followed a pre-programmed path that was used to verify endurance predictions. At the end of the flight, the Fire Shadow executed a terminal dive with a high-g manoeuvre to simulate a target engagement.
With a highly successful first test behind it, Team LM is now undertaking a series of ground and air-carry tests leading to a second flight trial scheduled for some time late next year. This will be a full end-to-end test of the system, including target engagement. That test will kick off an assessment phase, leading to a potential maingate production decision in 2011.

Artillery of the future – Fire Shadow successfully gets off the rail for its first flight trial. Marshalls has built six development airframes for the initial test programme