MBDA has fired an MMP missile from a remotely operated turret mounted on a 4x4 land-vehicle for the first time.
This demonstration was the third scenario of the MMP firing campaign carried out at the Canjuers military camp in the south of France, and took place with the support of the French army and of the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA - French Procurement Agency).
Carried out in “fire and forget” mode, the firing consisted of engaging a target representing another armored vehicle located approximately 3,500 meters away. Ending with a direct hit on the target, the firing confirmed the precision of the aiming and ‘locking-on’ for a long-range target from the turret, as well as the quality and robustness of the guidance chain.
This firing complements the development activities carried out by MBDA on MMP and the IMPACT remotely controlled turret for equipping light armored vehicles. With MMP now the market benchmark for fifth-generation land combat missile systems, IMPACT meets the expectations of various industrial partners wishing to equip their vehicles with its full capabilities. MBDA has developed IMPACT's modular architecture to aid integration. There is also commonality with the Mistral ATLAS RC turret, with which it shares 80% of its components.
Francis Bordachar, military advisor at MBDA, said: “The development of a family of turrets simplifies integration, support and training activities for our Customers. With this success we are increasingly demonstrating the suitability of the MMP system for the different expectations of the armed forces. MBDA was able to demonstrate the ease of integration of MMP onto a light turret, as it also proved with the integration and qualification of MMP on Jaguar, which will be validated by a firing campaign at the beginning of this year.”
MBDA is the only European group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems that correspond to the full range of current and future operational needs of the three armed forces (land, sea and air).
With a significant presence in five European countries and within the USA, in 2018 MBDA achieved revenue of 3.2 billion euros with an order book of 17.4 billion euros. With more than 90 armed forces customers in the world, MBDA is a world leader in missiles and missile systems. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development.
MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5 %), BAE Systems (37.5 %), and Leonardo (25 %).
