MBDA Delivers 1000th MMP Missile to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces
Following authorization from the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), the French procurement agency, MBDA completed the delivery of a batch of MMP (Missile Moyenne Portée / medium range missile) to the French Service Interarmées des Munitions (SIMu) on 16 November 2021, which included the 1000th MMP. The delivery of 1,950 missiles is planned by 2025.
In use by the French armed forces since 2017, MMP has also been ordered by Belgium and Sweden. MMP is the latest generation anti-tank missile in service to have been successfully engaged in combat on several occasions.
MMP offers both a “fire and forget” capability, allowing the operator to move to another position immediately after firing the missile, and a “man-in-the-loop” capability for engagements requiring a minimized risk of collateral damage. Using a dual-band visible/non-cooled infrared seeker, MMP can acquire both hot and cold targets and then track them completely autonomously. For engagements requiring continuous man-in-the-loop control, a fiber-optic link relays the seekers imaging back to the firing post. MMP is able to engage Beyond-Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) targets equally as well as those in direct line of sight. MMP is equipped with a tandem military charge, capable of handling a wide target set, including field fortifications, armored vehicles, or even combat tanks equipped with the most modern reactive armor.
The development of an air-to-ground version was launched by the Ministry of the Armed Forces at the end of 2020 with MHT (Missile Haut de Trame / Top Frame Missile), a long-range missile intended to equip the Tiger attack helicopters. It is also a candidate for arming the European MALE Eurodrone as well as for land vehicles.
