MBDA's MMP missile endorsed by European Union.

EU Defence ministers have endorsed on 19 November the EU BLOS (Beyond Line Of Sight) project amongst a list of 17 defence projects aiming at being implemented in the frame of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). Proposed by France and supported by Belgium and Cyprus, the EU BLOS project is the first missile system project to benefit from this new cooperation framework.

MBDA's MMP (Missile à Moyenne Portée, Medium-Range Missile) is currently entering service in the French army (Picture source: MBDA/Laurent Guichardon)

Promoting a differentiating operational capability for military operations, this project will contribute to a consistent and autonomous European approach in the land combat domain whilst enhancing the qualitative contribution of European nations to the achievement of NATO's level of ambition. The land combat domain has been recognized since June 2018 as one of the 11 European capability priorities.

The EU BLOS project aims at developing a family of BLOS missiles with back image and man in the loop capabilities. Based on the MMP missile system, this family of products will be fully mastered by European industry, which provides full autonomy of use, security of supply and future evolutions, to the benefit of the 25 PESCO member nations. One of the first priorities of this project will focus on defining a European doctrine of use and its associated concepts of operation. This project will pave the way for the creation of a European users club which will develop the growth potential of the MMP missile system in terms of missile evolutions as well as in terms of integration to a wide range of land and air platforms.

The EU BLOS project will also benefit from the CAMO (Capacité Motorisée) bilateral strategic partnership between France and Belgium, helping build operational and capability synergies across the armies of both nations.