On 27 June, the 44th French Association of Land Armaments (Association de l’Armement Terrestre or AAT) Ingénieur Général Chanson award was presented by DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement of the French ministry of Armed Forces) Executive Vice President Vincent Imbert to Vincent Guibout (MMP Programme Leader at MBDA) and Alain Prugne (MMP Programme Director at the DGA) for their work on the ‘Missile Moyenne Portée’ MMP weapon system.
Initially intended as a dismounted infantry combat missile system, the MMP is now in the delivery phase for use by the French army and Special Forces.
MBDA has taken all key technical and production decisions needed to make the MMP an operational and commercial success, and ensure its long-term positioning as a front-runner in this internationally competitive market. This approach has been extended to the programme’s major industrial partners, including Safran (seeker), Roxel (motor), Nexans (fibre optics), Saab Bofors Dynamics Switzerland Ltd (warhead), Junghans T2M SAS (safe & arm unit) and GDI Simulation.
The MMP solution adopted is built around the convergent use of technologies and methods perfected by MBDA on the basis of its land warfare experience, and the inclusion of innovative solutions, ranging from the optical and inertial assembly to latest-generation materials, via the multipurpose warhead, fibre optics, and bold choices of solutions for image processing, systems architecture and man-machine interfaces.
Particularly ambitious technically and in terms of its lead time, the MMP programme is now keeping all its promises. The latest qualification test firings have confirmed the level of maturity achieved at the end of a short development lead time, with a remarkable level of performance recognised and welcomed by the community of users; a level that puts this missile a very long way ahead of its competitors.
The MMP system is packed with the latest innovative technologies: a visible and uncooled IR seeker, image processing, multi-effect warhead, high-performance fibre optic datalink and lightweight materials.
It is a goal of the AAT to facilitate and encourage the development of high-level consideration and discussion of air-land weapons, to disseminate knowledge on this subject and act as a coordinating hub. The AAT – Ingénieur Général Chanson Award has been awarded every year since 1972 to engineering projects that have made significant advances in land-based weapons, and that incorporate innovations, but are sufficiently practical to form the basis for real-life applications.
With a significant presence in five European countries and within the USA, in 2016 MBDA achieved a turnover of €3.0 billion with an order book of €15.9 billion. With more than 90 armed forces customers in the world, MBDA is a world leader in missiles and missile systems. 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). 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.
