The Royal Air Force had a requirement for a guided antitank missile for its strike aircraft under SR(A) 1238 to replace the older BL775 cluster bomb. This requirement was first laid down in the late 1980s, but was canceled in 1990. It was revived again in July 1993 due to an assessment of lessons from the 1991 Gulf War. Revised bids for the program were submitted by five contenders in January 1996. The requirement was later called AAAW (Advanced Anti-Armour Weapon). In July 1996, the British MoD selected the Brimstone for this requirement, which is a variant of the Hellfire missile with a new GEC-Marconi seeker. It was first test flown in December 1998, and entered service with the RAF in March 2005.
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