The BROACH warhead is a multi-stage warhead developed by Team BROACH;

BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, a ...

Thales Missile Electronics Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...

and QinetiQ. BROACH stands for ''Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge''. Development of BROACH began in 1991 when Team BROACH consisted of

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marcon ...

RO Defence BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, a ...

, Thomson-Thorn Missile Electronics and

DERA Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is ' camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Moha ...

. The two stage warhead is made up from an initial

shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ini ...

, which cuts a passage through armour, concrete, earth, etc., allowing a larger following warhead to penetrate inside the target. The weapon is designed to allow a cruise missile to achieve the degree of hard-target penetration formerly only possible by the use of

laser-guided Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

gravity bombs.

Applications

Storm Shadow Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...

/SCALP EG *

AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a glide bomb that resulted from a joint venture between the United States Navy and Air Force to deploy a standardized medium range precision guided weapon, especially for engagement of defended targets ...

unitary variant (JSOW-C) * BROACH was evaluated as a possible warhead for the AGM-86D CALCM but was ultimately not selected.

References

{{Reflist BAE Systems weapons systems Explosive weapons Military equipment introduced in the 1990s