UK’s Project Brakestop Builds on Ukraine’s Long-Range Drone Experience

The UK MoD announced the launch of a call to industry on Monday, named Project Brakestop, which specifies the need for a cost-effective, long range strike weapon it terms as a “One Way Effector Heavy (OWEH).”

The announcement, called a single statement of user need (SSUN), contains a detailed technical breakdown of the requirement, a tight development schedule and a restricted budget.

It says that the OWEH must be cost-effective with a minimum range of 500 kilometers (312 miles), ground launched from a mobile towed or self-propelled platform operating in a high tactical threat environment with a minimal take-off distance, navigating to and accurately striking a user-programmed target at a flight speed of around 600 kph (375 mph). It should be capable of delivering a 200 to 300-kilogram (450 to 650-pound) payload based on the UK’s Mk82 aerial bomb.

Other specifications include that the system must be operable round the clock, under harsh physical conditions, resistant to interference in a complex electromagnetic environment (EME), capable of navigating to a target even when GPS or GNSS access is denied or degraded, and resistant against EW and spoofing attack.

The SSUN does not explicitly define whether the Project Brakestop system should be a missile, drone, or another technology, and that the OWEH can be delivered using either a ballistic or low-level trajectory. But it must include terminal end stage guidance that achieves a 50% circular error probable CEP accuracy of 30 meters (100 feet) and must land within that distance half of the time.

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Subject to an award of contract, the selected manufacturer(s) must be able to deliver a minimum of 20 units per month, with the ability to further increase production if called on to do so.

The target price of the OWEH alone is to be no higher than £400,000 ($530,000) which excludes the cost of the launcher system, and any government furnished equipment, which would be quantified and agreed on at contract award, and could include the payload, fuses along with range and testing facilities.

The project has an aggressive timeframe requiring companies to show an expression of interest this week and to attend a Project Brakestop industry day on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 in London UK. Initial proposals will be scrutinized and weeded out to arrive at a short list of no more than five preferred bidders for whom funding would be provided to produce a demonstration product for testing by Q2 of 2025 with serial production to begin in Q3 and the minimum of 20 platforms a month being produced before years end.

Military issues websites including Defense Express, the UK Defence Journal, and Army Recognition comment on how the technical requirements specified in the SSUN seem to resemble the declared characteristics of Ukraine’s domestic long-range Palianytsia hybrid “jet drone,” which was used on Aug. 24, to strike a Russian military base in Voronezh Oblast.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the first successful deployment of the weapon during his Independence Day speech on the same day, stating, “Today, we witnessed the first successful combat use of our new weapon, the Palianytsia missile-drone. This is a completely new class of weapon – our own Ukrainian innovation.”

At the very least, Brakestop is another example of how the experiences gained during the conflict in Ukraine have led the UK and other Western militaries to identify the needs of the 21st century battlefield and the advanced technologies capable of addressing those modern threats. As Ukraine has amply demonstrated, the closer the military collaborates with industry the more rapidly it adapts to the changing realities on the front line.

Interestingly the UK MoD document only refers to the requirements of a “user” which, combined with the timescale, several military commentators have interpreted as Brakestop being available or even actually intended for deployment in Ukraine.