The UK Ministry of Defence has announced the NIGHTFALL project, a new operational-tactical ballistic missile with a range of over 600 kilometres. This is stated in an announcement in the Contracts Finder section of the official government website.
According to the documents, the "early solicitation" phase for development proposals is still open. The missile must be safely launched from a mobile platform and hit targets programmed by the user.
Among the requirements for the missile are the requirements for its operability in difficult physical conditions, day and night, in a difficult electromagnetic environment, in a situation where signals from navigation satellites deteriorate or disappear altogether. The missile must also be resistant to electronic warfare.
In addition, the missile's flight range should be over 600 km, the warhead should contain about 300 kg of explosives. The accuracy of hitting the target is within 5 meters from the GPS coordinates.
The missile is expected to hit its target within 10 minutes of launch and follow a quasi-ballistic trajectory. The cost of one missile is stated at 500,000 pounds (over 675,000 US dollars), excluding the warhead, launcher and development costs.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense is looking for technologies that can be assembled within 9-12 months to provide at least five fully equipped units for testing.
Given the potential future contract, production should be scalable to produce at least 10 units per month with the possibility of further increase.