Military commanders around the world are increasingly concerned about the serious threats being posed to their forces and civilians by low level FGAs, Un-manned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and attack helicopters. Thales’ STARStreak has been designed to defeat these threats quickly and effectively and provide a vital capability in force protection.
It was designed to provide close air defence against conventional air threats such as fixed wing fighters and late unmasking helicopter targets. Thales has addressed the needs of military users around the world and introduced major improvements to provide increased range beyond 7 km, increased coverage and altitude and improved guidance precision against small targets.
The STARStreak configuration remains based on the proven STARStreak principles of high velocity to defeat targets with short unmasking times. The three dart payload maximises levels of lethality and accurate line of sight; laser beam riding guidance enables engagement of the smallest signature targets, which are extremely difficult to defeat and lock onto by traditional fire and forget missiles.
The STARStreak missile is capable of being launched from lightweight land, sea and air platforms, from either automatic fire control systems such as the RAPIDRanger or the STARStreak Lightweight Multiple Launcher (LML).
STARStreak is a ‘truly versatile missile’ and is most effective when dealing with targets with short exposure times. As soon as a target is detected the operator presses the trigger and launches the missile. (There is no waiting for lock on). The rocket motor system accelerates the missile to greater than Mach 3 in a fraction of a second. The missile then releases the three laser guided hittiles towards the target. The laser beam riding guidance, which enables precision engagement of the smallest of targets, is immune to all known counter-measures. The hittiles in flight cannot be decoyed by even the latest flares or Electronic Countermeasures (ECM).