Denel is upgrading its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile (SAM) from the current Infra-Red (IR) Block II version to a more powerful weapon with better intercept capabilities.
This will be good news for Denel’s customers, including the South African Navy (SAN), the Finnish Navy and the Algerian Navy, all of whom currently use the Umkhonto. Also, the SA Army is interested in the ground-based version to compliment its current Ground Based Air Defence System (GBADS).
Denel Project/Programme Manager Willem Maré explained to defenceWeb the system has a ground-based version, fired from Denel’s Ground Based Launcher or potentially in a missile silo. The original design was for the SA Navy’s Valour Class frigates as an advanced air defence system.
Upgrades will include extended range: a new rocket motor would extend range to 25 to 30 kilometres. Additionally, the IR seeker would be replaced by a radar seeker. The IR seeker can be affected by bad weather, which is especially relevant to the Finnish Navy, as infrared cannot see through clouds, but radar can. These upgrades will surely make the Umkhonto air defence missile more attractive to international clients, Denel believes.
Derived with assistance from the cancelled South African High Velocity missile programme, the Umkhonto surface-to-air missile was originally developed with a 12 km range but this was increased to 15 km and Denel has demonstrated it can reach out to 20 km, with a ceiling of 8 000 metres. It reaches speeds of around Mach 2.5. In 2013 Denel Dynamics for the first time fired the weapon from land – the system was originally developed for naval applications.
Once deployed, the 135 kg missile has a reaction time of 2.5 seconds and half-second intervals between missile launches. Umkhonto uses inertial navigation and mid-course guidance from the launch ship or from a land based radar and then switches to its dual-band thermal imaging seeker for a lock on after launch capability. The missile manoeuvres through tail-mounted control fins and thrust vectoring vanes in the motor nozzle.
The Umkhonto uses a proximity fuse to detonate its fragmentation warhead of 23 kilograms (the biggest warhead of its class). This warhead contains 4 800 titanium blocks. This gives the missile 95 plus percent kill probability, according to Maré. “It was tested at 10 metres; the penetration of one or two of the titanium blocks was through 11 mm of steel plate.”
Although it is primarily an anti-missile and anti-aircraft system, the pre-fragmented warhead makes it effective against surface targets like ships as well.
The vertically launched Umkhonto missile is installed aboard the SA Navy’s four Valour class frigates and is also in service with the Finnish navy aboard its Hamina fast attack craft and Hameenmaaa class minelayers and the Algerian Navy’s Meko A200 class frigates. It was due to be integrated into the South African Army’s Ground Based Air Defence System.
