MBDA details MMP ‘firsts' firing events

MBDA, supported by the French Army and the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA – the French Procurement Agency) has conducted a campaign of separate live-fire events with the Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP) land combat missile to evaluate the operational capability of the system in different launch configurations and engagement modes.

Conducted in November 2020 at the Canjeurs Camp test ranges in Provence, south-eastern France, and disclosed in late January 2021, the campaign provided for three discrete demonstrations, including the first full chain lock-on-after-launch (LOAL) beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) engagement of the weapon system in an operational configuration.

The demonstrations supported the first firing of the MMP missile from a stationary Arquus Sabre 4×4 platform, a Special Forces patrol vehicle derived from the Renault Trucks Defense Sherpa Light armoured vehicle. The missile was fired lock-on-before-launch (LOBL) mode – from a modified machine gun ring mount on the Sabre – against a static main battle tank (MBT) at a range of 3.5 km, with a rapid switchover to fire-and-forget (FF) mode, allowing the vehicle to become fully mobile after firing. Additionally, multiple engagements were simulated on the MMP firing post against fixed or mobile targets, while the vehicle moved around the test range.