The Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge (BROACH) is a multi-stage warhead developed by BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions, Thales Missile Electronics and QinetiQ.[1][2]
Development of BROACH began in 1991 when Team BROACH consisted of British Aerospace Royal Ordnance Defence, Thomson-Thorn Missile Electronics and the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). The two stage warhead is made up from an initial shaped charge, which cuts a passage through armour, concrete, earth, etc., allowing a larger following warhead to penetrate inside the target. The weapon is designed to allow a cruise missile to achieve the degree of hard-target penetration formerly only possible by the use of laser-guided gravity bombs.
Applications
edit- Storm Shadow/SCALP EG
- AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon unitary variant (JSOW-C)[3]
- BROACH was evaluated as a possible warhead for the AGM-86 ALCM cruise missile but was ultimately not selected.[4]
References
edit- ^ "BAE Systems Land Systems Munitions". the Manufacturer.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ^ "Munitions products". BAE Systems. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ "BAE Systems JSOW Unitary BROACH program enters operational test" (Press release). BAE Systems plc. 5 January 2004. Archived from the original on 16 March 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2006.
- ^ "Boeing Selects Lockheed Martin to Provide CALCM Hard-Target Warhead". Boeing. Archived from the original on 9 December 2000. Retrieved 15 April 2018.