MBDA ALARM

ALARM, short for Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile, is a British missile built to destroy enemy radars and so suppress air defences. The Ministry of Defence chose the offer from British Aerospace Dynamics in July 1983, and the specification lists MBDA as contractor. After launch it climbs to about 13,000 metres and, if the target radar switches off, it deploys a parachute and descends slowly until the radar transmits again, when a secondary motor fires to attack it. It is driven by Bayern-Chemie two-stage solid propellant rocket motors and was carried by RAF Tornado aircraft. It was used in the 1991 Gulf War, in Kosovo, in Iraq in 2003 and over Libya in 2011. The RAF retired it at the end of 2013, while the Royal Saudi Air Force still uses it.