France picks MBDA-Safran combo to supply multiple rocket launcher

PARIS — France has started exclusive negotiations with French defense firm Safran and missile maker MBDA to supply domestically produced rocket artillery as well as munitions, Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin announced at the Eurosatory defense show near Paris on Monday.

France snubbed a competing offer for a multiple-rocket launcher from a team of Thales and ArianeGroup as well as options from Lockheed Martin with HIMARS and Hanwha Aerospace’s Chunmoo launcher, with Vautrin noting that the country retained a sovereign solution.

French Army staff have been clamoring for a successor to its few remaining and aging M270-based LRU launchers, with deep strike deemed one of the ground service’s biggest capability gaps as the country prepares for high-intensity warfare. The government had said it would decide based on the best combination of delivery times, capability, affordability as well as sovereignty.

“We are currently in exclusive negotiations with a sovereign consortium of Safran and MBDA,” Vautrin said. “I would like to take the opportunity here to thank all the competitors for the high quality of the different proposals.”

Europe currently doesn’t produce modern, independently developed multiple-rocket artillery systems at scale, instead relying on systems from the United States, South Korea and Israel. France has been looking at the two domestic offers as well as off-the-shelf solutions, Vautrin said in April.

Rocket artillery is “essential” for France’s move towards a war-ready division in 2027 and war-ready army corps in 2030, Gen. Philippe de Montenon, the commander of the French land forces and operations, said in a briefing with reporters at Eurosatory on Sunday.

“We need them, of course, as soon as possible,” de Montenon said. “The Army clearly recognizes the need to have an initial capability as early as 2030 to replace the single-use rocket launchers. This is essential.”

Safran and MBDA said in April they expect to be able to deliver the first multiple-launch rocket systems in 2029 should their offer be picked by the French armed forces.

That followed the first test by the companies of their Thundart munition developed for France’s Long-Range Land Strike program at the Île du Levant test range in the Mediterranean earlier that month.

The ground-to-ground rocket has a 150 kilometer range, and the companies are considering developing longer-range munitions.

Safran said Thundart is compatible with the Thales Atlas artillery fire-control system and has a guidance kit derived from the AASM Hammer glide-bomb kit with metric accuracy. Potential capacity extensions include a range of 300 kilometers or a munition that can be aircraft- or ship-launched, according to the company’s presentation at Eurosatory.

The launcher on show at Safran’s stand at the show was mounted on a Scania truck.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国武装部队部长凯瑟琳·沃特兰周一在巴黎附近的欧洲防务展上宣布，法国已开始与法国国防公司赛峰集团和导弹制造商MBDA进行独家谈判，以供应国产火箭炮及弹药。

法国拒绝了泰雷兹和阿丽亚娜集团联合提出的多管火箭炮方案，以及洛克希德·马丁公司的HIMARS和韩华航天公司的Chunmoo火箭炮方案。沃特林指出，法国保留了自主解决方案。

法国陆军人员一直呼吁为其仅存的几套老旧的M270型远程可更换单元（LRU）发射器寻找替代型号。随着法国为高强度战争做准备，纵深打击被认为是陆军最大的能力缺口之一。法国政府曾表示，将综合考虑交付时间、性能、成本以及主权等因素来做出最终决定。

“我们目前正与赛峰集团和MBDA组成的主权财团进行独家谈判，”沃特林说。“我想借此机会感谢所有竞争者提交的高质量方案。”

欧洲目前尚未大规模生产自主研发的现代化多管火箭炮系统，而是依赖美国、韩国和以色列的系统。法国国防部长沃特兰在四月份表示，法国一直在考察国内的两款产品以及现成的解决方案。

法国陆军司令兼作战司令菲利普·德·蒙特农将军周日在Eurosatory举行的记者会上表示，火箭炮对​​于法国在2027年组建一支随时可以作战的师，在2030年组建一支随时可以作战的军来说“至关重要”。

德蒙特农说：“我们当然需要它们，而且越快越好。陆军明确认识到，最早在2030年就需要具备替换一次性火箭发射器的初始能力。这至关重要。”

赛峰集团和MBDA公司在4月份表示，如果他们的方案被法国武装部队选中，他们预计将在2029年交付首批多管火箭发射系统。

此前，该公司于当月早些时候在地中海的黎凡特岛试验场对其为法国远程陆地打击计划开发的“雷霆”弹药进行了首次测试。

这种地对地火箭的射程为 150 公里，各公司正在考虑开发射程更远的弹药。

赛峰集团表示，“雷霆”导弹与泰雷兹“阿特拉斯”火炮火控系统兼容，其制导组件源自AASM“铁锤”滑翔炸弹组件，精度达到公制水平。该公司在欧洲防务展上的演示显示，潜在的性能扩展包括射程达到300公里，或可由飞机或舰船发射。

在展会上，赛峰集团展台上展出的发射器安装在一辆斯堪尼亚卡车上。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。