In 1984, the US company
International Signal and Control (ISC) began work on a series of guided bombs and missiles for the
United Arab Emirates. ISC was purchased by the British company
Ferranti in 1987, with Ferranti in turn becoming part of
GEC-Marconi in 1991. Development of the missile programme continued through these changes, with the missiles first displayed in public at the 1994
Farnborough Air Show. There are two major versions of the missile family, one with a warhead, called the PGM-500, and one with a warhead, called the PGM-2000. Four large wings in a "squashed-X" arrangement are fitted at the rear of the missile, with small horizontal fins just behind the missile's nose. The PGM-2000 has an additional stabilising fin under the missile's nose. Both versions are rocket powered, with the PGM-500 having a single solid-fuel rocket slung under the missile body, while the PGM-2000 has two similar rocket engines. This gives a range of at low-level and at altitude. Both missiles can be fitted with semi-active laser guidance, TV guidance or imaging infra-red guidance, with a data-link pod required aboard the launch aircraft for the latter two options. An unpowered version, called Lancelot, was proposed in 1993 to meet a UK requirement for a laser-guided bomb, but this was unsuccessful. A
turbojet-powered version called Pegasus was offered for the UK's Conventional Armed Standoff Missile (CASOM) programme, with a range of over and revised guidance, but this was rejected in favour of the
MBDA Storm Shadow missile. A revised version, called Centaur was offered to the UAE, but this too was rejected in favour of a version of Storm Shadow, called Black Shaheen. ==Service==