Launched in late 2024 to deliver affordable high-capacity strike systems, Britain’s Project Brakestop has now achieved successful initial flight testing for three weapons, according to a Ministry of Defence release on 22 June.
Aimed at developing affordable ground-based strike weapons with a range of 500km and a 225kg warhead, the MoD also specified a flight speed in excess of 600km/h and a unit cost of about £400,000 (US$525,000), excluding warhead. Some 27 industrial firms responded to the opportunity and in early 2025 £5 million contracts for design and prototype assembly were awarded to six firms, with a tight window of seven months for timeframe. By December 2025 MBDA UK, MGI Engineering and Rotron Aerospace had progressed to the flight test phase. For MGI this marks the company’s first foray into defence contracting.
Each company has now been awarded an approx £15 million follow-on contract for system refinement and the provision of 15 missiles plus launch and support equipment. Further UK trials will be followed by evaluations in Ukraine, the MoD stated.
DA Comment
The speed and efficiency with which the contracting and testing programme has been conducted to date is testament to the MoD’s commitment to smarter acquisition processes and bending every possible sinew to deliver effect to the frontline. Indeed, the project is something of a case study, examining how sustainable such activities are. It also demonstrates the capability of the UK defence industrial base to rapidly develop and test long-range precision strike systems, as well as the procurement authority’s ability to change the manner in which capability is procured.
The 225kg-class warhead intended for each of the three weapons to carry has already been developed and tested by another British company.
Headline image shows the firing trials in December 2025. (UK MoD)
