Naval-launched Brimstone Sea SPEAR MBDA tested a maritime variant for use against swarms of small boats named Sea SPEAR. On 25 June 2012 a Tornado GR4 dropped a prototype that hit and sank a 6-metre inflatable boat travelling at 20 kn in sea state 3. On 29 May 2013, MBDA conducted a salvo firing of three millimetric wave operational Brimstone missiles, launched from a fixed offshore platform, against a simulated attack formation of five targets representing FIACs (Fast Inshore Attack Craft). The successful test firing demonstrated Sea SPEAR's ability to strike numerous individual targets. During the test one of the targets, a 15-metre craft, was travelling at 20 knots. MBDA pitted Sea SPEAR against the Raytheon Sea Griffin missile for integration onto American littoral combat ships. The US Navy instead selected the AGM-114L Hellfire as a stop-gap missile for the littoral combat ships. Brimstone 3 In March 2019, MBDA successfully tested the latest Brimstone 3 version in Sweden, now including surface-to-surface firing, plus new hardware allowing future enhancements. SPEAR 3 In 2010, MBDA was awarded an assessment phase contract for a network-enabled standoff missile, named SPEAR 3, which reuses technology derived from Brimstone. SPEAR 3 flies at high subsonic speed and can reach ranges of at least . It features a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 turbojet engine, wing kit, multi-mode seeker, INS/GPS guidance and datalink. The missile is designed to equip Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II multirole fighter aircraft and is expected to enter service with the Royal Air Force in the mid-2020's. Flight trials were carried out in 2014 from a Eurofighter Typhoon. An electronic warfare version with a swarm capability, named SPEAR EW, has also been proposed. Operational use Royal Air Force In March 2005, Brimstone entered service with No. 31 Squadron RAF. Full Operational Capability (FOC) was declared for the Tornado GR4 in December 2005 The first operational sortie of dual-mode Brimstone was over Iraq as part of Operation Telic on 18 December 2008 by a Tornado GR4 of IX(B) Squadron. It was first fired in combat in June 2009, the month in which the Tornado GR4s of 12 Squadron arrived in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick. Brimstone was used during Operation Ellamy over Libya in 2011. Sixty Brimstone were fired in the first four weeks of the Libya campaign, out of 110 Brimstone fired in all operations up to that time. This prompted