Doc Summary
TRIGAT began in 1983 with the agreement of France, Germany, and the UK to establish the Euromissile Dynamics Group to develop a number of anti-tank guided weapons.
In 1988, the UK, France and Germany signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on the joint development of an anti-tank missile family (medium and long-range) that would replace Milan, HOT and Swingfire; Euromissile was intended to be the industrial vehicle.
The missiles were to be called TRIGAT- MR and TRIGAT-LR, and both would utilise a tandem shaped-charge warhead and either a laser beam riding or IR homing guidance.
The original intent for the MR variant was that it could use Milan firing posts and sighting systems.
The LR variant was intended to have a range exceeding 5,000m and employ a terminal dive attack profile to target thinner top armour of armoured vehicles.
Development contracts followed, and the missile progressed through early-stage firings.
TRIGAT MR used a laser beam guidance system, like Javelin S15, the operator simply placed the beam onto the target and the missile acquired it and followed it in.
A thermal imaging system provided day/night capability, and the missile itself had a maximum range of 2,400m.
The missile was designed to have a high level of agility for use against fleeting and crossing targets, and with a soft launch system, easy to use in confined spaces.
TRIGAT-LR was closely tied to the development of the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter, but as the UK eventually selected the AH-64 over Tiger and A.129 Mangusta, the choice of Hellfire instead of TRIGAT-LR was already made.
The UK signed an MoU for production in 1999 with the expectation of a contract to follow that ensured no gaps would exist between TRIGAT-MR coming into service and Milan going out of service in 2005.
Unfortunately, delays in signing from Belgium and the Netherlands and, as usual, Germany revising down their required quantities, meant the delays would potentially leave the UK with a capability gap.
The 1999 National Audit Office Major Projects Report described TRIGAT as;
Medium Range (MR) TRIGAT is a crew-portable anti-tank guided weapon system, for the infantry and Royal Marines, which will be capable of defeating improved enemy armour at a maximum range of 2400m. It will replace MILAN, and comprises a firing post, a missile and a thermal sight, allowing effective operation at night and in adverse weather conditions. MR TRIGAT is a multi-lateral project with the United Kingdom, France and Germany as Pilot Nations and Belgium and the Netherlands as Associate Nations. It is currently nearing the end of full development.
The cost to the MoD at this stage was forecast to be £122 million.
In September 2000, the Government announced the UK’s withdrawal from TRIGAT
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Minister of State (Defence Procurement), Ministry of Defence
The UK signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the industrialisation and production phase of MR TRIGAT in June 1999 in the expectation that we would shortly proceed to contract and maintain the programme to deliver a modern anti-tank guided weapon capability by 2005 (when stocks of the existing MILAN system start to run down).
Regrettably, MOU signature by all five participating nations has still not been achieved. Some 12 months after our MOU commitment we are no nearer to contract placement than we were then. This additional delay, to a programme that is already 10 years behind its original schedule, and the additional risk and uncertainty it creates is unacceptable. The UK’s priority has to be to deliver the capability and equipment needed by our Armed Forces in an acceptable timescale.
We have therefore decided that the UK should withdraw from the MR TRIGAT industrialisation and production programme and will pursue an alternative national procurement of an anti-tank guided weapon system. We plan to issue an invitation to tender in the next few weeks for the supply of commercially available systems to meet the requirements of our infantry light forces by 2005. In parallel, we are reviewing our requirements for an anti-tank capability for mechanised and armoured infantry units prior to determining whether these too could be met by similar commercially available systems. Our initial assessment is that the alternative systems now available will be in many ways more capable than MR TRIGAT and offer significant financial savings.
We recognise that this decision will be a disappointment to our partners and to those areas of UK industry that had expected to benefit from MR TRIGAT. The UK remains committed to the principles of European collaboration provided it is in the UK’s best interests. Regrettably it was not possible to proceed on this basis with MR TRIGAT, but there are a range of other programmes on which we remain engaged to good effect with our European partners.
A report from the NAO later in the year reinforced the point.
As a result of continuing and open ended delays it became clear that the basis on which the UK had agreed to proceed to the I&P phase of MR TRIGAT could no longer be sustained. The Secretary of State announced the UK’s withdrawal from the I&P phase of MR TRIGAT on 28 July 2000
And that was the end of TRIGAT-MR
£105 million costs for no weapons, it was less than the estimate though, that said, later estimates would put the cost of TRIGAT-MR at £155 million.
This also resulted in a bit of a problem, the Milan systems would be life-expired by 2005.
Eventually, Javelin replaced MILAN.
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