The super fast Starstreak High Velocity Missile (HVM) System used by the Army and Royal Marines is to get a new lease of life for the next 13 years. The Minister of State for Defence Equipment & Support (Min DE&S), Quentin Davies MP, has today announced that Thales UK has been awarded a contract worth more than £200m from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to deliver the Air Defence Availability Project (ADAPT) in support of the Starstreak high velocity missile (HVM) system.

The Starstreak HVM is a close air defence system with an advanced laser-guided weapon which flies at more than three times the speed of sound and is designed to counter threats from very-high-performance, low-flying aircraft and fast ‘pop-up’ strikes by helicopter attacks.

In service for the last 12 years, it uses a system of three dart-like projectiles, allowing multiple hits on the target, and can be fired from the shoulder from a lightweight multiple launcher or from the Stormer armoured vehicle.

The ADAPT contract is expected to ensure the delivery of a guaranteed level of Starstreak HVM system availability and support of all HVM equipment until 31 December 2020. It also provides a mechanism to bring into service a new fire control system for the self-propelled Starstreak HVM, together with automatic target tracking, a new standard of Starstreak HVM dart, and will allow for the introduction of the complementary new Lightweight Multi-role Missile (LMM) that was officially launched by Thales UK at last year’s Farnborough Air Show.

The ADAPT Invitation to Tender (ITT) was issued by the MoD in December 2006 to evaluate the best value-for-money option to provide support to Starstreak HVM on an availability basis until its scheduled out of service date in late 2020. Thales UK’s Belfast-based business was down-selected as the preferred bidder in August 2007, having demonstrated that they could provide the best value for money at the required readiness and availability levels against demanding service criteria.