DefExpo22: MBDA to show-off missiles and tie-ups
Display will include Meteor, Sea Ceptor and partnerships with BDL, L&T

Sea Ceptor missile | Art: MBDA

Defence systems company MBDA plans to bring an array of missile technologies to DefExpo 2022 as well as underline its partnerships with Indian industry at the exhibition.

Notably showcased will be their Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, MICA air combat missile and SCALP deep strike missile, already in service in the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Meteor is a ‘ramjet-powered and network-enabled beyond visual range air-to-air missile’ that includes a ‘throttle-able ramjet engine, active radar seeker and datalink that combine to provide unmatched end-game speed and manoeuvrability at greatly extended ranges, resulting in its all-important ‘No-Escape Zone’ being several times greater than any other existing or planned BVR weapons’, according to the company.

Next, the ASRAAM which the company says is ‘being delivered to the IAF as its New Generation Close Combat Missile program’. “ASRAAM gives it a high kinematic capability that delivers superior end-game performance for within visual range air combat,” said the company, adding, “ASRAAM will arm the IAF’s upgraded Jaguar fleet, and potentially other IAF platforms.”

Besides these, their exhibit will include models of armaments for specific aircraft, with the Meteor, MICA IR/RF, SCALP and SmartGlider on the Rafale, the Meteor, MICA IR/RF and EXOCET AM39 on the Rafale M, ASRAAM on the Jaguar, MICA IR/RF on the Mirage 2000, ASRAAM and Brimstone on the Hawk and Meteor, ASRAAM, Brimstone and Taurus on the Gripen.

Maritime systems on display will include the Sea Ceptor for the Indian Navy’s Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) requirement. The company describes it saying, “Through the use of new advanced technologies, Sea Ceptor provides complete protection against all known and projected air targets including saturation attacks across 360° simultaneously. Sea Ceptor utilises the CAMM missile that features a next generation all-weather fully active RF-seeker, two-way datalink and soft-vertical launch system to provide a step-change in performance compared with previous generation systems.”

Also noteworthy will be the Exocet anti-ship missile, with the SM39 submarine variant already delivered for the Indian Navy’s Scorpene submarines. “The AM39 version can be launched from Maritime Patrol Aircraft, strike fighters such as the Rafale as well as medium to heavyweight helicopters, ” said the company, adding that a third variant, the MM40, offered for the Indian Navy’s Medium Range Anti-Ship Missile requirement, will also be on display.

MBDA will further exhibit the latest MARTE ER from the Marte family of fixed and rotary wing and ship-launched anti-ship missile weapon systems. “The high sub-sonic MARTE ER is equipped with a turbo-jet engine giving it a range of well over 120 km, thus enabling it to engage enemy vessels well over the horizon. Other enhancements include an optimized terminal guidance system and 4D waypoints including altitude and time for simultaneous time on target attack,” described the company.

Besides ‘full firing posts of the new MMP (anti-tank guided) missile and a full functional simulator of a new Indian anti-tank missile’, MBDA will feature the Mistral Man-Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS), which has already been demonstrated in firing evaluation trials for India. “Mistral has already been selected and integrated into the ATAM helicopter launch system for India’s helicopters (namely ALH and LCH),” said the company, adding that ‘operating Mistral as a MANPADS system will offer major logistics and stock management advantages’. Three configurations of the system will be on display at DefExpo 2022 including the Mistral ATAM for helicopter launched air defence, Mistral MANPADS for very short range air defence in the land domain and Mistral SIMBAD RC for lightweight naval air defence.

But besides systems, MBDA intends to highlight its partnerships in India, including ‘close co-operation with DPSUs such as Bharat Dynamics Limited, with whom an agreement was recently signed to conduct the final assembly, integration and testing (FAIT) of ASRAAM missiles in India for the Indian Air Force’.

Further underlined will be its joint venture with Larsen & Toubro, L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd, which ‘already has a fully working site in Coimbatore manufacturing missile and missile launcher components and is competing to provide local Indian solutions for tenders such as its offer of Sea Ceptor’ for the Indian Navy’s Short-Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) requirement.