MBDA MMP Medium Range Missile makes ASEAN premiere at DSA 2018.

The European consortium MBDA, a leading missile manufacturer, is presenting for the first time its MMP Medium Range missile in the ASEAN region during the DSA 2018 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MBDA MMP Medium Range Missile at DSA 2018

A week after having announced a new joint venture (JV) with the Indian Larsen & Toubro at DefExpo 2018 in Chennai, MBDA is now marketing its MMP to the Malaysian, and moreover to the ASEAN markets.

“Now in service with the French Armed Forces, MMP can be operated by dismounted soldiers or integrated into vehicle platforms. MMP has been designed to overcome the limitations of earlier generation ATGMs by incorporating the latest matured technologies to provide unmatched performance against all battlefield targets at ranges in excess of 4km,” said Time Riddle, MBDA Vice-President of Export.

The MBDA’s Missile Moyenne Portee (MMP, for “medium range missile”) was designed to offer a new generation of anti-armor missile for the French army which can be used as individual weapon by infantrymen and mounted on combat vehicles. French army plans are to acquire 400 firing posts and 1,750 missiles for infantry, armoured units and Special Forces of all branches by 2025, with options for further orders totaling 2,850 missiles.

In June 2016, French Company MBDA has announced the launch of series production of the MMP (Missile Moyenne Portée – medium-range missile) system. Since the program 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.

The MMP is a fifth generation land combat missile system which can be used in fire-and-forget mode, which does not require further guidance after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance, and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the target.

The MMP missile can hit targets to a maximum firing range of 4,000m, allowing the operator to defeat the target beyond counter fire ranges. A dual mode seeker; uncooled infrared and visible color channels allows a broad range of targets to be engaged including those with low thermal contrast, a fiber-optic data link making it possible to maintain “man-in-the-loop” control to allow third party designated targets to be engaged outside the launch platforms line of site. The missile’s multi-purpose lethal package (anti-tank, anti-personnel and anti-structure) can defeat targets ranging from heavy tanks with reactive armour to infantry entrenched within structure.