French Navy to Test Naval Group Modular Launcher on Frigates Against Drone Threats.

Naval Group said on November 5, 2025 that its Multi-Purpose and Modular Launching System demonstrator achieved a “ready to fire” validation at the Angoulême-Ruelle site. Land trials are planned for January 2026, followed by at-sea engagements from a French Navy platform, as the company moves the program from proving ground to sea shots.

Naval Group announced on November 5, 2025, that the company validated the ready-to-fire status of its Multi-Purpose and Modular Launching System demonstrator, a new close-in launcher conceived for the last eight kilometers of ship self-defense. “Ready, aim, fire,” the corporate post said, adding that the next step begins in January with land trials before engagements from a French Navy vessel against fixed and mobile targets. The announcement identifies the Angoulême-Ruelle site as the development hub and confirms the test sequence that will carry the program from proving ground to sea shots with the Marine Nationale.
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Naval Group's MPLS is a modular deck launcher firing missiles, guided rockets, loiterers and decoys against air, surface and sub-surface threats to 8 km (Picture source: Naval Group).

Naval Group’s MPLS is not a single-weapon mount; it is a reconfigurable, ship-agnostic launcher built around a two-axis turret and four interchangeable effector modules that can be swapped to tailor the ship’s near-field fight. In official material unveiled at Euronaval 2024 and updated since, the company states an ammunition payload of about 1,000 kilograms, a total loaded mass under 3.5 tonnes, and an elevation window from −20 to +60 degrees. The turret integrates its own firing computer and electro-optical fire control, operates autonomously or slaved to the combat management system, and uses pneumatic or pyrotechnic ejection with rear deflectors to protect masts and antennas from backblast. Reloading is facilitated at the quay and at sea, although the builder has not disclosed detailed procedures.

Modules can be packed with 68 or 70 mm rockets, including Thales Belgium’s FZ275 laser-guided round, short-range missiles such as MBDA Mistral 3 and Thales LMM, and MBDA Akeron MP for precision anti-surface shots. Growth paths include loitering munitions developed with KNDS, rocket-borne depth charges and underwater grenades for close-in ASW, and decoys like Naval Group’s CANTO anti-torpedo and Lacroix-type RF/IR rounds, giving commanders a soft-kill and hard-kill mix from a single stabilized base. At Euronaval, Naval News reported module densities such as four Mistral per module, two Akeron per module, and at least ten 70 mm rockets per module, with Naval Group cautioning that exact loads vary by effector and remain subject to qualification.

Range matters in the near zone. Naval Group sets the system’s defensive envelope at up to eight kilometers, which aligns with the 1.5 to 7 kilometer performance band of the FZ275 laser-guided rocket when cued by the MPLS electro-optics or a shipboard designator. This pairing offers a favorable cost-per-kill against slow movers, quadcopters and small surface craft, preserving higher-end interceptors for demanding air threats.

The program’s evolution is now well documented. Naval Group publicly unveiled MPLS at Euronaval on November 7, 2024, and the same day signed a memorandum of understanding with Thales and KNDS to integrate their effectors, while confirming work with MBDA on the Mistral and Akeron families. In September 2024, a land-based demonstration at Thales Herstal validated 70 mm rocket firings from a prototype mount. The company then carried the concept through 2025 Innovation Days showings and integration sprints, culminating in the November 5, 2025, ready-to-fire validation. The land trials will begin in January 2026, before at-sea engagements from a Marine Nationale platform.

Readers always ask where a new launcher can live on deck, and Naval Group has shown its homework. Company imagery places one or more MPLS turrets atop the hangar roofs of FREMM and FDI frigates, aft on Gowind corvettes, and as a replacement for the two SIMBAD manned mounts on Mistral-class LHDs. This is consistent with the weight and backblast management that allow installation near sensor farms without scorching radomes, and with the concept of adding a reprogrammable layer without cutting into a ship’s vertical launch cells. The builder stresses ammunition-agnostic exportability, including integration of non-French effectors when customers request it.

MPLS is a fleet-level hedge for the last mile, where threats are cheap, mixed and fast. In a single watch, a commander can configure one module for counter-UAS with rockets, a second for anti-surface with LMM or Akeron, a third for short-range anti-air with Mistral 3, and a fourth for CANTO and RF/IR decoys to complicate a torpedo or missile’s terminal phase. Because the turret carries both soft-kill and hard-kill, sequencing can be compressed in a saturation raid, buying seconds that matter while preserving Aster cells and heavyweight torpedoes for the fight beyond the horizon. For OPVs and auxiliaries, the autonomy option adds a true point-defense layer without a major CMS refit; for first-rank combatants, deep CMS integration turns MPLS into a networked effector that accepts external cueing.

There is also a realistic ceiling to the claims, and Naval Group acknowledges some are still to be proven at sea. The company advertises quayside and at-sea reloads but has released no public method statements, and recent U.S. Navy experience shows that underway rearming, even with purpose-built mechanisms, is complex, manpower-intensive and weather-limited. The TRAM demonstrations on U.S. cruisers and destroyers in 2024 and 2025 illustrate both the feasibility and the choreography required for safe evolutions, a useful analogue when navies judge MPLS sustainment under fire. Logistics for mixed-munition magazines and damage resilience of a concentrated turret magazine are other factors the French Navy will probe during trials.

On the industrial side, Euronaval disclosures and the November 2024 press release confirm the partnership architecture. Thales brings 68 and 70 mm rockets and LMM, KNDS contributes innovative munitions including loiterers, and MBDA integration has begun for Mistral and Akeron. Naval Group, as ship integrator, owns the turret, fire-control and shipfit, and has signaled that production could follow once land and sea trials lock down safety chains, module interfaces and effectors’ clearance data. Senior DGA and Armed Forces Ministry leaders were briefed at Euronaval, underscoring French stakeholder interest as the program advances.

As to customers, the Marine Nationale is the lead user for trials, but no procurement decision has been announced. Naval Group says the system is ammunition-agnostic for export, and its modeling shows natural fits on platforms widely sold abroad, notably the Gowind family. That suggests potential for early foreign interest once at-sea firings confirm performance, though no foreign navy has been publicly named.

MPLS mounts a stabilized two-axis turret carrying four interchangeable modules with a combined payload near one metric ton and a total loaded mass under 3.5 tonnes. Elevation authority spans roughly -20 to +60 degrees. The near-field self-defense envelope extends to about eight kilometers and is enabled by effectors such as FZ275 laser-guided 70 mm rockets, Mistral 3, LMM and Akeron MP, with growth to loitering munitions, anti-submarine rockets and anti-torpedo and RF/IR decoys. The firing unit integrates EO sensors, a ballistic computer and supports both autonomous and CMS-connected modes, with rear deflectors to manage backblast on crowded masts. Reloading support is planned at the quay and at sea, with details withheld pending qualification.

MPLS is not a gun system and does not aim to supplant 40 mm mounts that deliver sustained kinetic volume; it is a programmable bridge between guns and VLS that lets commanders choose the cheapest adequate effector for each threat while preserving scarce cells and deck space. If January land trials and follow-on sea shots deliver what Naval Group promises, the French Navy will be positioned to consider backfits on FDI and FREMM frigates, Mistral-class amphibious ships and selected patrol platforms, with export paths likely to follow. For a fleet that must handle drones, USVs and pop-up coastal fire in congested littorals, a launcher that can be repacked by mission and fired autonomously or as part of the combat system is more than a concept, it is an affordability and survivability play timed for the fight navies actually face.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.