World Wide Weapons

The Pakistan navy’s fast-attack craft Azmat, first of two of its type, was designed and built in China. Powered by four diesel engines, the 560-ton ship was commissioned in 2012. It has a top speed of 30 kt. and a 1,000-nm range. 

Despite its small size, Azmat packs an offensive armament of eight C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), with a range of 120 km (75 mi.) and a 165-kg (365-lb.) warhead. 

The Azmat’s defensive armament includes a 30-mm., radar-guided AK-630 close-in weapon system for defense against hostile ASCMs. 

Developed as a private venture by the United Arab Emirates’ Al Fattan Ship Industry—which is under contract to provide more conventional patrol boats to the UAE navy—this high-speed catamaran is designed to launch lightweight torpedoes and is fitted with an Oto Melara Hitrole remote-controlled weapon system. 

The UAE navy’s 915-ton Baynunah-class corvettes, built by Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) are among the largest warships built to date in the Middle East. The French-designed, diesel-and-waterjet-powered craft carry MBDA Exocet Block 3 missiles and 21-cell Raytheon Rolling Airframe Missile launchers. 

Making a rare public appearance was PC-4 Monsoon, one of a class of U.S. Navy patrol boats supporting special operations in the Persian Gulf region. Monsoon has been fitted with the Raytheon Griffin small surface-to-surface missile and is also fitted with a Kongsberg/Hydroid unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) system. 

UAE-based unmanned air vehicle startup Adcom showed its United-40 aircraft in multiple configurations, including a maritime variant armed with a lightweight homing torpedo. The company says that the use of tandem very-high-aspect-ratio wings minimizes drag. 

An armed-reconnaissance version of the United-40 was shown with Adcom-designed glide weapons and a fighter-style targeting and designation pod on  the fuselage centerline. 

The UAE’s Nimr Automotive, Tawazun and Raytheon disclosed a project to arm the 6 X 6 version of the Nimr vehicle with the Raytheon-Tawazun Talon 70-mm laser-guided rocket. A mast-mounted electro-optical turret would allow the vehicle to engage dismounts and lightly armored vehicles from a defilade position. In this configuration, the vehicle would carry 16 Talons and two antitank weapons. 

Raytheon is preparing to demonstrate a longer-range version of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam) for use with the Kongsberg/Raytheon National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (Nasams).  The new missile (left) is to be tested at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico toward the end of this year, company officials say. It combines the AIM-120C7 seeker, fuze, warhead and guidance electronics with the motor and aerodynamic-plus-thrust-vector controls of the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM).

The goal is to keep Nasams competitive with other mobile SAMs and provide a replacement for Raytheon's veteran Hawk SAM. Another contender for this market is Roketsan of Turkey with its Hisar-1 medium-altitude missile (right). 

Thales showed a model of the camera system that it is developing for the UAE’s new reconnaissance satellites, for which Airbus Defense is the prime contractor. The long-focal-length Newtonian primary lens system is on the right, while the complex, lightweight and ultra-stiff structures holding the secondary mirror systems and imaging array are on the left. 

Rheinmetall showed a working prototype of a fiber-laser weapon system mounted on a Boxer 8 X 8 armored vehicle. The single-module weapon could be used to neutralize potential explosives threats, to blind unmanned air vehicles or disable communications devices without damaging them beyond repair. 

Developed by Austria’s Smartflower energy technology GmbH in collaboration with the country’s defense ministry, Austrian and German defense companies and the Red Cross, Remules is claimed to be the world’s first self-contained, air-droppable 2-kW solar-power generator. It uses GPS for automatic bi-axial Sun tracking.