MBDA MMP missile sets a new range record to 5,000 meters.

In May this year, the French Army conducted a training campaign of firings in preparation for the next operational deployment of the MBDA MMP missile. The result was that two firings were made over a range of 5,000 meters, both of which were completely successful.

French soldiers demonstrate MBDA MMP anti-tank guided missile at Eurosatory 2018 live demonstration (Picture source Army Recognition)

In parallel, a number of additional firings were made to test the capacity of the system beyond its normal operating range. These firings, in which the seeker was locked onto the target before firing, confirm the exceptional performance of the MMP acquisition and guidance sequence.

They will contribute to building the confidence of future users, who may have to respond effectively under highly challenging operational conditions.

The MMP programme plans a total inter-force installed base of 400 firing units and 1,950 missiles by 2025. The first hardware to be delivered is currently in use for user training. The weapons system is expected to be deployed for external operations before the end of this year.

The MMP (Missile Moyenne Portée – Medium-Range Missile) is a portable surface-to-surface launcher missile system developed by the Defense Company MBDA. The development of the MMP started in 2009 initiated by the Company MBDA and the mass production began in 2013. MBDA has won a contract the French army to develop a medium-range missile that could defeat everything from tanks to bunkers to hostile troops in buildings. 

The MMP is a digital missile with a passive dual-band seeker including uncooled Infrared and color TV channel. It use a multi-purpose tandem warhead. The MMP missile has a dual mode seeker (uncooled infrared and visible color channels) and also a fiber-optic data link making it possible to maintain "man-in-the-loop" control.

The warhead can penetrate 1,000 mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA), and 2,000mm of concrete. It can destroy targets as heavy tanks with reactive armour as well as infantry entrenched in an infrastructure. The MMP missile has a weight of 15 kg including the firing tub, a diameter of 140 mm and of 1.3 m in tactical canister.