Another Aspide 2000 success in Kuwait reaffirms the missile’s status as a major aircraft buster.

Fired from a Skyguard air defence system, the Aspide 2000 missiles brought down two Banshee remotely piloted targets at the Kuwait Air Defence Brigade's ADEIRA range during a live firing air defence exercise carried out on 18th and 19th December 2012. Both targets were destroyed, in one case by a direct hit and in the other by a close-range explosion. Intercept took place at a range of around 6 km and at an altitude of around 1,500 metres. These successful intercepts add to the already solid evidence of the reliability of this MBDA missile.

During the exercise, Aspide 2000 achieved a launch record for Kuwait - all 19 launches since 2007 having been successful despite varying weather conditions, with launches taking place both at night and day, at both medium and long ranges and at both high and low altitude.

The success of this latest Kuwait exercise is further confirmation of Aspide's effectiveness – 5,000 missiles have been produced to date - and of the robustness of the modernised system’s design. This is yet another boost to the export potential of a missile that international markets are increasingly considering as one of the best performing in the medium-range ground-to-air missile sector.