MBDA advances land version of its naval missile as European strike weapon

PARIS — MBDA is advancing with a land-launched version of its Naval Cruise Missile to offer European nations a long-range strike option, with the pan-European missile maker presenting a truck-transportable launcher and plans for a missile upgrade at the Eurosatory defense show.

The upgraded version of the cruise missile is expected to be available in 2030 and will have longer range, better jamming resistance, a bigger payload and improved stealth for better survivability, Sophie Bourdais, MBDA’s commercial director for strike, told Defense News at the show near Paris on Tuesday.

“It’s been a few years now, so we’ve made progress on a number of systems and we’ve made progress on the whole package,” Bourdais said. “We have really good reasons to believe that we’ll be able to improve the overall performance of our missiles.”

MBDA’s Naval Cruise Missile, derived from the Storm Shadow/Scalp-EG air-launched cruise missile, entered service with the French Navy in 2017.

Europe lacks long-range strike options that provide deterrence by holding Russian assets at risk, a gap that countries are trying to patch with programs including the European Long-Range Strike Approach, or ELSA.

The United States in May reportedly shelved plans to deploy its Typhon launchers, capable of firing long-range Tomahawk missiles, to Germany, where they were previously intended as an interim capability.

MBDA has been able to promote its Land Cruise Missile system within the ELSA initiative, and several countries are interested, according to Bourdais. The company is in talks with France’s Directorate General for Armament, and hopes to sign a contract this year for development and production of a first batch of the upgraded missiles, she said.

The new version of the naval cruise missile will have a range “well over 1,000 kilometers, comparable to the Tomahawk,” Bourdais said. She said the missile will be used for both naval and land launch.

The company displayed a four-canister launcher for the Land Cruise Missile which was developed in-house and can be deployed from the back of a truck.

An information sheet by the French Armed Forces Ministry prepared for Eurosatory added the name MdCT , for Missile de Croisière Terrestre, as an official designation for the missile, in addition to the existing MdCN, for Missile de Croisière Naval.

MBDA presented other missiles and drones for strike missions at Eurosatory, including a jet-powered drone dubbed Deluge and previously known as the One-Way Effector, designed to saturate air defenses. The drone can carry an artillery shell within its fuselage and has been ordered by the DGA, with the first production versions expected to be delivered in the first half of 2027.

The company also displayed its Crossbow cheap cruise missile for precision strike on targets such as launchers, radar systems and command posts. MBDA said the three effectors can work as a system, with the expendable Deluge drones saturating enemy air defenses and opening the way for the more expensive Crossbow and LCM missiles.

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——MBDA公司正在推进其海军巡航导弹的陆基版本研发，旨在为欧洲国家提供远程打击选项。这家泛欧导弹制造商在欧洲防务展上展示了一款卡车运输的发射器以及导弹升级计划。

MBDA公司打击业务商业总监索菲·布尔代周二在巴黎附近的展会上告诉《防务新闻》，升级后的巡航导弹预计将于2030年上市，其射程更远、抗干扰能力更强、有效载荷更大，隐身性能也得到提升，从而具有更好的生存能力。

“几年过去了，我们在多个系统上都取得了进展，整体性能也得到了提升，”布尔代说。“我们有充分的理由相信，我们能够提高导弹的整体性能。”

MBDA 的海军巡航导弹源自“风暴阴影/风暴阴影-EG”空射巡航导弹，于 2017 年在法国海军服役。

欧洲缺乏能够通过威胁俄罗斯资产来发挥威慑作用的远程打击选项，各国正试图通过包括欧洲远程打击方案（ELSA）在内的计划来弥补这一差距。

据报道，美国在 5 月份搁置了向德国部署其“台风”导弹发射车的计划，该发射车能够发射远程“战斧”导弹，此前曾计划将其作为过渡性能力部署到德国。

据布尔代斯称，MBDA已成功在ELSA倡议框架内推广其陆基巡航导弹系统，并引起了多个国家的兴趣。她表示，该公司正在与法国军备总局进行洽谈，并希望今年签署一份合同，用于研发和生产首批升级版导弹。

布尔代斯表示，新型海军巡航导弹的射程将“远超1000公里，与战斧导弹相当”。她还表示，该导弹将可用于海军和陆基发射。

该公司展示了一款自主研发的陆基巡航导弹四联装发射器，该发射器可从卡车后部部署。

法国武装部队部为欧洲防务展准备的一份信息表，除了现有的 MdCN（海军巡航导弹）之外，还增加了 MdCT（陆地巡航导弹）作为该导弹的正式名称。

MBDA在欧洲防务展上展示了其他用于打击任务的导弹和无人机，其中包括一款名为“Deluge”（此前名为“One-Way Effector”）的喷气式无人机，其设计目的是饱和攻击防空系统。该无人机机身内可携带炮弹，已获得法国国防采购局（DGA）的订购，首批生产型预计将于2027年上半年交付。

该公司还展示了其“弩箭”（Crossbow）低成本巡航导弹，该导弹可用于精确打击发射装置、雷达系统和指挥所等目标。MBDA表示，这三种作战单元可以作为一个系统协同工作，其中一次性使用的“洪水”（Deluge）无人机可以饱和攻击敌方防空系统，为更昂贵的“弩箭”和LCM导弹开辟道路。

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。