Since the publication on Tuesday April 17, three days after the strikes in Syria, of an article reporting that the MdCN cruise missiles would have experienced malfunctions during the firing sequence, preventing the launch of 3 missiles, and requiring the intervention of the frigate Spare, numerous articles in the written and online press rave about the "French technological failure", some going so far as to give credence to the ridiculous hypotheses of Russian propaganda.
It is therefore necessary to establish, once and for all, the data, in order to be able to make an informed judgment on these events:
- The MdCN
The French Navy had deployed 5 frigates in the MEDOR zone, in the eastern Mediterranean, which were to launch 3 to 6 MdCN cruise missiles. During the launch procedure, the frigate Aquitaine encountered an incident which prevented the firing of its first salvo. The Spare frigate, Provence, then launched 3 missiles, as planned, in the event of a firing incident.
The 3 missiles fired worked perfectly, they followed the planned trajectory, in a grazing trajectory, and struck their targets. There are reports of a possible second incident on the frigate Languedoc, but the information on this subject is contradictory. Above all, it seems that Languedoc was not able to fire its Salve within the allotted firing window.
Remember that the 3 frigates, which normally must have 16 missiles each, only had 10 missiles in total (so 4/3/3), which says a lot about the urgency of loading these missiles on board the ships . Especially since these 3 ships were, a few days before their deployment, themselves on a mission.
In fact, the French naval mission was in seriously degraded condition. Under these conditions, a firing incident is not surprising, and in no way calls into question the confidence that the French Navy can have in its FREMM ships, and in the MdCN missile, which otherwise behaved perfectly.
- The SCALP
Lesson 5 Rafales of the Air Force, escorted by 4 Mirage 2000-5, carried out a 4000 km mission before reaching their firing zone. Each Rafale carried 2 SCALP EG cruise missiles. 9 missiles worked perfectly and hit their targets, avoiding the detection zones of Russian and Syrian radars. A missile experienced a firing incident, and as per procedure, was not launched. It was later dropped in an area prohibiting missile recovery. The 9 Air Force aircraft landed on their departure bases, after a flight of almost 10 hours.
Here are the facts. We understand, there is no reason to talk about a crisis of confidence. The missiles launched functioned perfectly, hit their targets, and, according to Russian claims, were not detected by Russian radars, including a Beriev 50 Mainstay. The shooting incident on the French frigate can have multiple causes, knowing that the slightest incident in the launch checklist leads to its termination. This type of incident is therefore much less problematic (and much easier to correct) than those experienced by the firing of Russian cruise missiles which were damaged in the Iranian plains, more than 1000 km from their target, or multiple malfunctions of Tomahawk missiles which also tended to get lost in nature.
In any case, these incidents are an integral part of the planning of military operations, and had been anticipated by the General Staff which had deployed more aircraft and ships for this reason, among others.
The only mistake made in this mission by the military and political authorities who planned and followed it, was not to impose a firm and strict blackout on the subject, so that the information was communicated in due time. , in the appropriate context. It is also up to the editors-in-chief to demonstrate responsibility, and not to rush into “sensitive information” without having received approval from the supervisory authorities.