Over 3 years late..................
Brimstone 2 finally declared operational with UK Tornado GR4 | IHS Jane's 360
Following successful completion of a series of delayed operational evaluation trials in February 2016, the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has finally declared an initial operating capability (IOC) for the Brimstone 2 low collateral precision strike surface-to-air weapon with its Tornado GR4 multirole combat aircraft. IOC was achieved in May but formally announced on 13 July at the Farnborough International Airshow 2016.
Nonetheless, the IOC is some 43 months beyond the originally projected October 2012 in-service date, and 66 months since demonstration and manufacture (D&M) approval in March 2010 under the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) - MBDA Portfolio Management Agreement (Interim).
Selected in March 2010 to meet the UK MoD Selective Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) Capability 2 requirement under the Complex Weapons pipeline, Brimstone 2 is the RAF designator for what MBDA going forward will refer to simply as 'Brimstone' - essentially to distinguish it from the earlier single-mode millimetre wave (mmW; operating at the near optical wavelength of 94 Ghz) Brimstone and Dual Mode Brimstone (DMB) variants.