The French defence innovation agency AID has announced the selection of a consortium led by MBDA in response to the LARINAE call for projects.
The objective of LARINAE is the rapid and collaborative development of a remotely controlled ammunition capable of neutralising a hardened target within a radius of fifty kilometres.
Following on from the success of the first COLIBRI call for projects, MBDA has confirmed its position in the field of remotely-controlled ammunitions with the selection of its MUTANT concept, based on a “Minimum Viable Product” approach and focused on user requirements.
This new propelled and guided munition benefits from technologies developed by MBDA over many years, in particular the AKERON family, to ensure very high levels of performance in neutralising armoured and mobile targets, while guaranteeing operational reliability and complete safety.
MUTANT also takes advantage of the latest technological advances in the field of civil and military UAVs to produce a munition with the best cost/performance ratio.
Designed as a true man-in-the-loop weapon system, this solution, will offer complementary capabilities to land-based combat missiles in terms of targeting speed, manoeuvrability, endurance, range and enemy saturation capability.
Further, this remotely controlled ammunition, with its ability to strike beyond line-of-sight, is a natural complement to MBDA’s portfolio of battlefield effectors such as the AKERON MP and LP.
The consortium is following French Ministerial Instruction 1618, which allows it to work with the armed forces and the DGA to define the best compromise between requirements and solutions, ensuring a rapid and effective response to the needs of the armed forces.
The ambitious demonstrations planned for 2024 under the LARINAE contract will benefit from the self-financed work carried out by MBDA since 2022, which has already enabled the first flights of the MUTANT MTO with the SME Delair.
These advances will allow even faster progress and adaptation to the requirements of this new capability.
About MBDA
MBDA is a unique multi-national European group, a world-leader in the field of complex weapon systems, playing a key role in keeping nations safe.
Created in the spirit of international co-operation, MBDA and its 14,000+ employees work together to support the national sovereignty of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, their allies worldwide.
As an accelerator for innovation, MBDA is the only European group capable of designing and manufacturing complex weapons to meet the full range of current and future operational requirements of the three armed forces (land, sea and air).
To be noted that Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Leonardo (25%) own MBDA.
Source: https://newsroom.mbda-systems.com/mbda-led-consortium-selected-for-frances-larinae-project/
