Monday, October 10, 2011

New British missile three times as fast as current weapons



The Perseus missile will be the most sophisticated weapon in its class travelling at Mach 3 or 2,000 miles an hour, three times the speed of existing weapons.

In midflight it can deploy a further two baby missiles that can help it straddle a ship with devastating firepower or seek out extra targets or confuse surface-to-air missile batteries.
One engineer on the project unveiled at the Paris Air Show, said: "This is the stealth bomber of missiles and can penetrate enemy defences like nothing else."

The £800,000 Perseus, designed to replace the existing Exocet and Storm Shadow weapons, will be invisible to radars until the very last few seconds before the two ton weapon impacts.

Indian Navy P8I Poseidon completed its initial flight test



The first P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy completed its initial flight on September 28, taking off from Renton Field at 12:02 p.m. Pacific time and landing two hours and 31 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle.

During the flight, Boeing test pilots performed airborne systems checks including engine accelerations and decelerations and autopilot flight modes, and took the P-8I to a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet prior to landing. In the coming weeks Boeing will begin mission systems installation and checkout work on the aircraft at a company facility near Boeing Field.

"The P-8I program is progressing well and we are looking forward to this potent platform joining the Indian Navy as part of its fleet," said Rear Adm. DM Sudan, assistant chief of Naval Staff (Air), Indian Navy.