IDEX 2025 – Halcon unveils new guided missiles projects
Part of the Missiles and Weapons Cluster, one of divisions that form the EDGE group, Halcon is the guided missile company and at IDEX 2025 unveiled some new systems that will soon become part of the UAE group smart systems portfolio
“At the Abu Dhabi exhibition we are showcasing a few new items, such as the G 70 and the G120, two new missiles currently under development, that are based on requirements of our local customer,,” Theunis Botha, Senior Vice President at Smart Systems, Halcon tells EDR On-Line.
“The G70 is a man portable 70 millimetre diameter guided weapon that can be launched from a tripod, the intention being to have a guided modern RPG7 equivalent,” he explains.
A laser beam riding missile, it has an operational range between 700 (with self designation) and 4,000 metres (with external designation), flying at a speed of 300 m/s. The overall mass of the complete system, which is made of a tripod-mounted launch unit with day/night sight, a reusable launch tube and three missiles, is slightly over 22 kg. This allows a single man to carry the system, however a two-man solution seems to be the best choice. The missile is 750 mm long, has a mass of 4 kg and carries a 1 kg tandem shaped charge warhead, the CEP (Circular Error Probable) being 0.5 metres against a static target and 0.8 metres against a moving one. “However, we are looking at a variety of warheads, as within the company we have a munitions development capability,” Mr. Botha explained.
Currently the G70 is considered at TRL 3-4. “As I said, the development is still ongoing. There’s still some way to go, and we have to push to meet the deadline. We already had some successful flight trials and this weapon system is intended to be in production approximately by the end of 2027,” he said.
“Putting all the requirements in that small airframe is quite challenging design, but we have a strong team at work. There are a couple of new technologies in the G70,” one of them being the reusable launch tube EDR On-Line understood. “Some of them aiming at easing the logistic burden for the soldier on the battlefield,” Mr. Botha explained, no more details being provided for the time being.
While still in full development, the G70 programme has a clear timeline, the G120, the second new system seen at the Halcon stand, which was part of the huge exhibition area occupied by the EDGE group, is still in the concept development phase. “This weapon is air launched and will have an 8 km range. It will also havea tandem warhead and a laser seeker, and it is being developed by a team of engineers in Halcon,” the company Senior VP told EDR On-Line. Its development should however be eased by the experience gained with the G70, which should reduce the time to market. “There is some common ground with the G70, we are upscaling some of the technologies utilizing it in the G120. We also exploit other building blocks that were developed along the five years of existence of the EDGE group, with the aim of reusing it in our missiles developments, so not everything is done from scratch, and the whole emphasis here is reducing the time to market as well as the unit production cost, exploiting our own internal technologies.”
According to information provided, the G120 will be 1,000 mm long, the name indicating the diametre, with a mass at launch of 14 kg. Its launch envelope will be from 1,000 to 30,000 ft in altitude and from 40 to 150 knots in speed, while the flight envelope will be 0 to 40,000 ft and Mach 0.3 to 1.2.
“We must be disruptive,” also on the cost side, H.E. Faisal Al Bannai, then Chairman of the EDGE Board of Directors, told EDR On-Line at IDEX 2023, cost control being one of the leading priorities within the group.
Halcon has some major programmes ongoing. One of them, the Skynex, is being developed in cooperation with Rheinmetall, and is an artillery and missile air defence system, in which Halcon is providing the missile segment. “It is a big programme and we are very excited about the SkyKnight missile. We very recently carried out successfully some flight trials aimed at aerodynamic characterization, which included a variety of complex manoeuvres.”
In the guided weapons area EDGE is widening its portfolio. “One of the moves was to sign a deal with Brazilian SIATT, of which we acquired 50% of the stakes and with which we are developing the MANSUP ER, aimed at customers needing to replace systems such as the Exocet Block C,” Mr. Botha said, underlining that his company and EDGE as a whole are contributing with their technologies to the system development, which is Brazil-led.
Looking ahead, which might be emerging technologies that might impact Halcon and EDGE guided weapons in the wider sense? “I think one of the main issues today is to be robust against GNSS denial, so visual based navigation as well as AI will become essential. We must have a leading edge on our competitors, with low cost solutions that are extremely do robust and does not rely on any GNSS solution. And we’re pursuing that,” he underlined. “Sensor fusion will be key, having multiple sensors on the weapon, exploiting GNSS signal when available, implementing of course sophisticated anti jamming and anti spoofing solution, but visual based navigation will become essential, coupled with AI.
While the EDGE exhibition area, and that of Halcon, were showcasing numbers of products, many of which seen for the first time, behind curtains many other programmes are running. “A lot of those are not being shown, they are in an early conceptual phase, which is a good sign as the main thing is to continuously evolve. And for this the support and confidence from the UAE government plays a cardinal role in our success,” Mr. Botha concluded.
Photos by P. Valpolini
