The Tempest program is definitely at the heart of this new edition of the DSEI defense exhibition in London this year, just as the FCAS was at the center of that at Le Bourget 4 months ago. The European group, member of the program's industrial group, is present at the show the weapon systems intended to equip the Tempest, but also the Typhoon, in the future.
Thus, MBDA is currently developing a Hard-Kill protection system, called Hard-Kill Defensive Aid System, or HK-DAS, intended to protect devices from threats targeting them, like the hard-Kill systems which protect today the armored vehicles. Based on a highly maneuverable micro-missile, the system will be capable of intercepting missiles aimed at the device at a safe distance avoiding any damage. This micro-missile is also used for close air support missions, allowing the device to have a great capacity for long-term action above the battlefield.
If air-air engagement beyond visual range remains entrusted to the European Meteor missile, whose performance seems to be unanimously unanimous, MBDA, like the Tempest program, has a particular interest in close air combat, by developing a missile specialized in this mission, and presented in two finishes, one normal allowing a twin-pack of the missile on a firing rack, the other, in an extended version with a higher caliber, having increased performance, but using an entire rack. Note, in this respect, the effort made on the number of munitions that can be used by the device without excessively increasing its mass, its maneuverability or its stealth, all of these systems being intended to be integrated in the hold.
Air-Ground engagement is, for its part, the responsibility of the SPEAR missile, version 3 of which is currently being developed to equip the Typhoon British and Saudi. Equipped with both a turbojet and retractable wings, the SPEAR is at the crossroads between the tactical air-to-ground missile and the cruise missile. Despite its reduced dimensions, the missile measuring 1,80 m and 100 kg, it reaches a range of 130 km, and benefits from GPS guidance coupled with a radar or infrared seeker. Finally, MBDA concludes this presentation with a pair of cruise missiles, probably from the FMC/FMAN program for Future Cruise Missile / Future Franco-British Anti-Ship Missile, the first designed for speed, without however the term "hypersonic » is not mentioned, the second for stealth, like the SCALP missile which already equips the British and French air forces.
However, we notice three major absences in this presentation which nevertheless aims to be a vision of the future. The first, already discussed, is the absence of hypersonic systems, yet at the heart of the concerns of many staffs. The second is the absence of directed energy systems, more particularly laser systems, which are particularly suitable when it comes to ensuring the anti-missile protection of an aircraft. This is all the more surprising given that the group is already working on directed energy weapons programs, in the United Kingdom et working on a freelance basis in Germany. The third, finally, is based on the notion of a remote effector, like the Remote Carrier of the FCAS, or the Valkyrie of Kratos. Here too, this may be surprising, because the Royal Air Force developed a program of this type, the LANCA, and one might think that MBDA's expertise in the fields of cruise missiles would be decisive in designing these systems. However, these 3 technologies are expected, in all probability, to be at the heart of future developments in on-board weapons systems or associated with combat aviation of the future. They are, in any case, at the heart of the programs of the US Air Force and the US Navy, which is not insignificant…