Eurosatory: MBDA demos MMP
Designed for dismounted combat, MMP can also provide the main armament on light vehicles (right) 
or be incorporated as a complementary armament on the turrets of heavy combat vehicles, reusing the existing optronics.
MBDA also offers an airborne version of the MMP, including one carried under the Patroller drone as exhibited on the Safran Electronics & Defense stand at the exhibition.
A first embedded configuration consists of the current infantry firing post that can be directly adapted to the upper platform of light vehicles. Thus, close combat units, as well as special forces, can instantly give non-dedicated vehicles an anti-tank capability to operate in theatres requiring mobility and stealth. This configuration is also on show at Eurosatory on a special forces SHERPA vehicle being displayed on the Renault Trucks Defense stand.
MBDA has also launched design studies for a 250 kg motorised turret for light armoured vehicles. A first prototype of this turret – called IMPACT – is being presented on MBDA’s stand mounted on the Dagger, a small armoured vehicle produced by Renault Trucks Defense. IMPACT carries the day/night sensors of the MMP fire control, as well as two ready-to-fire missiles and a 7.62 mm self-protection machine gun and its ammunition. The firing post commands are displayed remotely in the vehicle cab so that the crew remains safe from enemy fire and adverse weather conditions thereby increasing permanency in combat.
In addition, the MPCV turret, currently in series production for several foreign clients in its air defence version armed with four Mistral missiles, is also available in a land combat version reusing the same firing optronics. This version, adapted to medium tonnage vehicles, offers considerable firepower with its four MMPs installed in individual launchers plus four missiles in the hold.
The MMP is also presented integrated in the T40 turret that will equip JAGUAR, the French army’s future Armoured Reconnaissance and Combat Vehicle. On show on the Nexter stand, this two-missile turret configuration demonstrates that the MMP can be easily operated through the fire control on the carrier. These extremely mobile armoured vehicles can therefore be equipped to destroy all types of targets, even the most hardened, at a range of over 4,000 meters, with all the precision and collateral damage prevention qualities that characterise MMP.
Finally, in conjunction with Safran Electronics & Defense, MBDA is studying a concept for the integration of the MMP system on the Patroller drone recently acquired by the French Army. A total of four munitions can be carried under the wings by intelligent launchers providing the interface between drone and missile to give the missile the target data supplied by the drone sensors. Lightweight and capable of engaging any type of battlefield target controlled by a remote operator, MMP is the weapon of choice for tactical UAVs.
MMP is a latest-generation land combat missile fully adapted to modern conflict. It will replace the Milan and Javelin anti-tank missiles of the French Army and the special forces from 2017 onwards as well as HOT in use French cavalry units. It is a “fire-and-forget” missile with a 4,000-meter range, a dual mode seeker (uncooled infrared and visible colour channels) and also a fibre-optic data link making it possible to maintain “man-in-the-loop” control. This capability gives it unmatched accuracy and minimizes the risk of collateral damage. The missile’s multi-purpose military charge (anti-tank, anti-personnel and anti-infrastructure) can defeat targets ranging from heavy tanks with reactive armour to infantry entrenched in an infrastructure.
In line with the initial schedule defined by the DGA (the French procurement agency) in 2013, MBDA has started series production of the MMP system. First deliveries to the French armed forces as a replacement for Milan will take place as of 2017.
The final development firing of the MMP validated a complex scenario in which the target was hidden at the time of firing and then designated in flight by the gunner by means of the seeker’s feedback image supplied via a fibre-optic link. In this 'indirect firing' mode, the MMP offers unparalleled precision and significantly reduces the risk of collateral damage. Since then, the DGA has declared the start of the qualifying phase for which the first four firings have already been carried out.
Since the programme was launched in 2011, some 20 test firings and numerous ground tests have served to validate all the performance values required by the French armed forces, such as system resistance and employability in extreme environment and temperature conditions, shooting under infra-red guidance at a long-range target (4,100 meters), firing in confined spaces, or warhead versatility, to ensure effectiveness against varied targets such as combat vehicles, dismounted combatants in open spaces, or entrenched in infrastructure.
Notified by the DGA in 2013, the MMP programme will provide 2,850 missiles and 400 firing posts to the French armed forces starting from 2017.
The MMP is a fifth generation land combat missile system ensuring superiority in the battlefield through its versatile warhead and its two firing modes ('direct firing' with 'fire-and-forget' or 'man-in-the-loop' options and 'indirect firing').
