MBDA yesterday said the French Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) notified the company it is placing an order for the development and production of the Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP) weapon system that will equip the French Army as of 2017.
MBDA is jointly held by BAE Systems and EADS each with 37.5 percent, and Finmeccanica with 25 percent.
The MMP missile will provide a successor to MILAN, the anti-tank system currently in service with the French Army and sold to around 40 other armies around the world.
With its modular concept, MMP will have the capability of being fired from portable firing posts, battlefield vehicles and army aviation platforms.
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| MMP Weapon System Photo: MBDA |
MMP’s entirely new concept takes into consideration the experience gained from recent conflicts where the need to master the delivery of military effects without collateral damage has been shown to be a major operational requirement. As a result, it offers both a fire-and-forget capability, which allows the operator to move to another position immediately after having fired the weapon, as well as a man-in-the-loop capability for engagements that could cause collateral damage.
MMP is effective against a wide range of ground targets to include tanks, armored and non-armored vehicles and infrastructure. The missile can be fired from confined spaces and directed against non-line-of-sight targets.
“Calling on its 40 years of experience in the ground combat missile domain, MBDA has conceived a new generation missile which combines all the requirements expressed by the French Army and highlighted by the unique operational experiences gained from its activities in Afghanistan as well as in Africa and Asia.” MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier said. “The architecture and technologies within MMP are truly innovative and position this missile well ahead of the competition. I am therefore confident in the export potential of this new program, which, in the next 10 years, should represent several times the size of the order concluded with France. This contract will contribute to maintaining important skills in the French missile sector with its numerous sub-contractors such as Sagem for MMP.”