AMRAAM until advanced versions of Meteor become available.--Stephen V Cole

Britain has suddenly cut its initial order for Brimstone air-launched anti-tank missiles by 25%, saying that it has reviewed its needs and found the lower number acceptable. Brimstone is a radar-guided version of Hellfire, and is to be used to arm British Tornadoes, Typhoons, and Apaches. The British note that a quarter of their sorties over Kosovo had to be abandoned because of bad weather, something that should not bother Brimstone.--Stephen V Cole


July 25, 2000; Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have been given 15-month $2 million contracts to define stealthy unmanned combat aircraft. These UCAVs are to operate from both aircraft carriers and other ships. The Navy has told the contractors not to restrict themselves to a derivative of the Air Force UCAV design. Challenges include maintaining datalinks and operations of the UCAVs when flying close to aircraft carriers, which have huge electromagnetic auras from their radars and radios. A Navy UCAV could be used for recon, attack, or