Bullish on India!

MBDA’s Future Plans

Saab Gripen, first fighter type operational with MBDA’s Meteor

Indian defence procurement might be slow, the business environment a maze, and military requirements in near-constant flux, but from CEO Antoine Bouvier down, MBDA’s top leadership remains positive on India as a market and an opportunity for international co-operation. Vayu’s Angad Singh reports from MBDA’s facilities in France and the UK.

European missile manufacturer MBDA is backed by three major aerospace and defence shareholders : BAE Systems (37.5%), Airbus (37.5%) and Finmeccanica (25%). The company was created in 2001 after the merger of the leading missile manufacturers of France, Italy and the UK, with an aim to achieve “critical mass” so as to challenge the primacy of the American munitions industry at the time. CEO Antoine Bouvier, speaking to Vayu at the Company’s offices outside Paris in September, believes this has been achieved with a roughly 25% global market share today, equivalent to the major US firms.

MBDA continue to pursue growth, and has identified exports as a key driver, with a target of greater than fifty per cent of total sales to export customers. The MBDA’s Future Plans Indian defence procurement might be slow, the business environment a maze, and military requirements in near-constant flux, but from CEO Antoine Bouvier down, MBDA’s top leadership remains positive on India as a market and an opportunity for international co-operation. Vayu’s Angad Singh reports from MBDA’s facilities in France and the UK. Company has historical links in the Gulf countries of the Middle East, but India has emerged as a key market in recent years, particularly as a destination for “long-term industrial co-operation,” according to Bouvier. He highlighted the decade-old Kelkar Committee report as an articulation of India’s sovereign defence industrial aims, but noted that progress has been limited. However, Bouvier stressed that the broad Indian aim for a robust, sovereign defence industry dovetails with MBDA’s own history, given its genesis as an organisation intended to be Europe’s answer to the then global ‘heavyweights’ in the missile market.

India’s defence industrial aims also fit with MBDA’s future growth plans, as exemplified by the joint venture announced with L&T in February 2017 (see Vayu II/2017). Bouvier is confident that there will be a close alignment with India in terms of strategic objectives, stating that it is clear that India is a “long term partner in terms of security … [and] defence.”

Bouvier also noted that MBDA has the support of its European stakeholder Governments (France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain) for technology transfer to India and support to indigenous manufacturing under various DPP provisions. “MBDA’s history is one of cooperation, consolidation and development of an autonomous missile industry among multiple European nations”, said the Company’s CEO, and with MBDA’s presence in India being the firm’s largest outside of Europe, Bouvier believes that what MBDA proposes with India is a continuation of this “legacy of cooperation in Europe.”

L&T Joint Venture

The 51-49 JV with L&T addresses both MBDA’s objectives, and what Company executives feel are India’s objectives (DPP, Make in India and so on). For the present, the JV is intended to exclusively tackle a limited set of Indian requirements – new generation ATGMs (with a development of the MBDA MMP), an Exocet MM40 Block 3 based mobile coastal battery, and high speed low flying aerial targets – with more programmes available to be added to the JV’s plate as necessary. Company officials noted that the JV is intended to reply to all current and future RFPs, whatever they may be. The target is to be compliant with the DPP’s Indian Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) provisions, with 60% Indian content for a non-Indian design (or less if there is greater Indian share in Intellectual Property Rights holding). The L&T MBDA Missile Systems executive board has already been constituted, and the company is “working and underway.” Teams from both companies are already working together, and an office is set to be established shortly.

An MMP firing team (photo: MBDA)

While MBDA plans to focus its future efforts in India through the joint venture, the Company has no objection to working with other public or private sector players as sub-contractors. The scope of the JV is certainly ambitious enough that this could be a distinct possibility. For instance, the joint venture will “hot assemble” missiles with warheads and rocket motors, and the partners are hoping for an agreement with the MoD for a live firing test range. While present focus is on Indian requirements, missile exports are already formally accounted for in the JV agreement. The volume of work envisaged for the JV could certainly allow for third party vendors to establish themselves in the supply chain.

As always, however, all plans are hostage to Indian procurement timelines. With so many false starts over the years, it may be quite a while before co-developed or ‘Made in India’ missiles are seen streaking toward their targets.

Upgraded IAF Mirage seen taxiing with five MICA missiles, three on wingroot stations, two on outboard wing stations (photo: Angad Singh)

The Programmes

Notwithstanding the situation with the glacial pace of acquisitions noted above, MBDA is targeting a large number of requirements in the Indian market. Jean- Luc Hollette, Director of Technical and Military Operations (TMO), Jean-Paul Faye, TMO Vice President of Product Solutions, Frank Morgan, TMO Head of UK Airborne at MBDA, Russ Martin, Military Advisor at MBDA, and Philip Gazard, who handles naval systems at TMO, detailed for Vayu some of MBDA’s on-going and future programmes in the Indian market.

MBDA is fond of pointing out that its weapons have been produced and used by India for decades, through its progenitor companies. The Nord SS.11 and MILAN family of ATGMs have been licence produced in India (over 40,000 of the latter), while a range of air-to-air, air-tosurface, and surface-to-surface munitions were, and are, in service with the Army, Navy, and Air Force. In recent years, MBDA has had particular success in the airto- air arena, with ASRAAM on IAF Jaguars, MICA on the Mirage 2000s, Mistral on the Rudra and LCH, and most the weapons package for the IAF’s 36 Rafale fighters, including the long-range Meteor BVRAAM and SCALP air-launched cruise missile, both of which will enter Indian service for the first time.

Pair of ASRAAMs seen fitted on a RAF Eurofighter Typhoon in flight (photo: UK MoD/Geoff Lee)

MBDA’s offset obligations for these orders stand at a total of about 1 billion Euro, and MICA parts are already under production in India. For the moment, these parts will go on missiles destined for the Indian Air Force, but depending on global sales volumes for the missiles, Indian offset partners may see their parts being shipped off, even to third parties.

Air Launched

Of MBDA’s air-launched portfolio MICA and ASRAAM are already in service, Meteor and SCALP are on order, Mistral is platform-qualified but yet to be ordered in volume, while the much more recent Brimstone (and derivative SPEAR) are being proposed for current and future IAF platforms.

Inert ASRAAMs mounted on an ex-RAF Jaguar during trials (photo: MBDA)

The all-aspect MICA is typically used on French fighters (in-service with the IAF’s Mirage 2000 fleet and planned for IAF Rafales), and has a uniquely flexible guidance concept, able to employ either imaging infrared (IIR) or active radar seekers. The missile has seen over 350 test and operation firings and is operational on a wide range of platforms with 15 customers worldwide. But for the seeker heads, the missiles are identical, and can be rail- or eject-launched, making them suitable for a number of aircraft and carriage stations. The high fidelity seeker on the IR variant can even be used as a ‘look up’ optical sensor for aircraft that lack built-in IR search and track (IRST) capability, and this has been validated by operators of the Rafale and Mirage 2000. As with most modern western missiles, the MICA is delivered as a ‘sealed round’ requiring nearly zero maintenance for 15 years – the radar-seeker variant usually undergoes a seeker function test every five years to allow for preventive maintenance as necessary, but the IR variant can be stored maintenance free for the full 15-year period. Overall missile life can be extended beyond 15 years if necessary, based on condition.

Dual Mode Brimstone being loaded onto a triple rack under a RAF Tornado strike fighter (photo: UK MoD)

MBDA is now working to expand the ASRAAM onto the Hawk and Tejas LCA, which already uses the Russian R-73 and is in the process of integrating the Israeli Python CCM. Company officials stated that they opened talks with the IAF regarding additional platforms almost immediately after securing the Jaguar order, and with ASRAAM already in the IAF’s inventory, MBDA believes there is a strong case for the MoD to pursue integration of the missile with other types such as the LCA and Hawk, the latter being pitched as a relatively lowcost, low-risk integration effort, because the Mk.132 Hawk is already wired for missiles (MBDA Magic) on its wingtip LAU-7 launchers, which are compatible with ASRAAM. Some integration work will be required, but the exercise will be far simpler than integrating an all-new missile.

Meanwhile, it was suggested that Python integration with the LCA has run into some issues, described as “flutter” but noted in ADA’s annual report as a vibration issue at high-subsonic/transonic speed. Sources at HAL, however, confirmed in October that Python integration work would continue and that they were not aware of any plans at that time to integrate a third CCM type. Notwithstanding the flutter or vibration issues, MBDA believes the ASRAAM to superior to the Python owing to its low-drag four-fin configuration (versus the Python’s 18 fins), higher range, and significantly lighter weight (the Python is 15-20kg heavier). MBDA has already shared a great deal of technical documentation for their LCA offer, although whether this will be taken up remains to be seen.

A render of a Hawk Mk.132 armed with ASRAAM on the wingtips and two Brimstone triple racks

Parallel to ASRAMM, MBDA also believes there is the case for the IAF to adopt the Brimstone surface-strike missile. Brimstone entered service with the RAF as a radar-guided autonomous anti-tank weapon in 2005. The missile was further developed into the modern day Dual Mode Brimstone (DMB) in response to an urgent operational requirement from the UK MoD for use in Afghanistan and Iraq. The seeker and software were modified to enable ‘man in the loop’ engagements to account for the restrictive rules of engagement in theatre, and the first DMBs were operational on the Tornado strike fighter in December 2008, some 18 months after the MoD contracted for the modification. Since then, the missile has seen extensive use in operations over Afghanistan and the Middle East, with further improvements including the ability to engage high-speed manoeuvring ground targets moving as fast as 110km/h, accurately strike small manoeuvring maritime targets such as speedboats, and finally successful test firing from the Boeing AH-64 Apache.

Each missile weighs 50kg, while three missiles together with their specially configured triple-rack weigh a total of 240kg, essentially the same as a standard 500-lb bomb, but with far greater range, accuracy and targeting flexibility. The warhead is a tandem shaped charge with blast effect, meaning the DMB is as effective in the anti-armour role as the original first-generation Brimstone, but able to operate using three different guidance modes: dual mode using radar and laser guidance, with laser as primary and radar for terminal lock on and autonomous homing; laser-only, particularly useful for low- or no-RCS targets on land and sea; and finally the original radar-only mode for autonomous engagement of land and sea targets. DMB range is estimated at around 20km, although the actual figure is not public.

Speaking to Vayu, MBDA officials stressed that Brimstone is the only missile of its kind able to be employed from fast jets, with other similar weapons such as Hellfire limited to helicopters and slow-moving UAVs. Brimstone integration work with Apache is well underway, and significant work has been done to integrate the missile with the UK’s future Protector UAV fleet (GA-ASI Predator-B), which will see the missile remain Britain’s principal highprecision, low-collateral strike option for the foreseeable future. MBDA hopes to leverage the missile’s relative ease of integration for the IAF, again suggesting that the BAE Hawk could be an early candidate to employ DMB, although the Jaguar – as the IAF’s principal strike asset – was also mentioned as a logical choice. Talks are already underway with the IAF, HAL and BAE Systems, and “there is nothing physically about the weapon that should prevent it being integrated across the cross section of Indian platforms,” said a company official, since the missile communicates on the ubiquitous MIL-STD-1553B data bus, used by almost all Indian combat aircraft.

The flip side of this proposal is that there is no formal IAF requirement for a Brimstone-type weapon, and even if there were, there are no other missiles in this class, which could lead to the dreaded ‘single vendor’ situation that derails so many Indian military procurement programmes. MBDA remains hopeful that the Brimstone’s “force multiplier” capabilities, particularly when integrated with a non-frontline asset like the Hawk, could make an attractive case.

Meanwhile, negotiations for an order of Mistral Air-To-Air Missiles (ATAM) to equip the HAL ALH Mk.IV (also called Weapons System Integrated, ALH-WSI or Rudra) are on-going, and MBDA is hopeful of a production contract soon. The missile is the only air-to-air missile fully qualified with the Rudra, and an earlier contract for launchers has already been executed with HAL. The contract for the missiles themselves needs to be signed by the MoD, and this is being negotiated separately.

The HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), derived from the ALH, will also carry the Mistral ATAM, and qualification is underway. MBDA expects a live firing test by December 2017 at the Chandipur test range, but the actual timelines are under the control of HAL and the customers. The LCH will likely end up carrying four Mistral per wing, double the two-per-wing configuration of the Rudra.

Mistral twin-missile launchers seen on the outboard weapon stations of this Indian Army Rudra helicopter (photo: Angad Singh)

Other air-launched weapons, such as the SCALP cruise missile and Meteor BVRAAM are being supplied as part of the Rafale weapons package, although MBDA is certain that additional orders, including perhaps some for new platforms, are likely to come up in the near future.

Surface-launched

On the surface-launched side of the business, MBDA has had more limited success, the large licence-production run of the MILAN ATGM notwithstanding. The Company is pursuing a mobile coastal defence battery opportunity with the Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missile, which is in service with 11 navies around the world (40 operators use ther variants of the Exocet). Each coastal defence battery would comprise one mobile sensor unit, one mobile command post, and a multitude of truck-mounted firing units, with four missiles per truck. The MM40 Block 3 is a sea-skimming 200-km-range missile with 3D waypoint navigation, time on target capability for multiple missiles, and terminal agility for point-defence penetration. The coastal defence implementation can integrate customer specified sensors and communications, and is pitched not just as a defensive weapon system, but as a node in a larger maritime command, control and surveillance network. However, Indian interest in the system appears to have waned since the RFI went out some six years ago, with the Navy seemingly electing to focus on more pressing priorities.

Cutaway model of the MMP at MBDA’s Selles-Saint-Denis production site, showing tandem warheads, mid-body motor, as well as seeker and guidance hardware (photo: Angad Singh)

MBDA’s other surface-to-surface offering for India, and one that has seen considerable attention from the Company, is the new-generation MMP anti-tank missile (Missile Moyenne Portée, or medium range missile). MMP was selected by French MoD in 2011 to replace MILAN, Javelin and the Euromissile HOT in the French service. Rafael’s Spike LR, Javelin and MMP were evaluated, with MMP coming out ahead.

A contract for the man-portable infantry variant was awarded in 2013, calling for 450 launchers and 3,400 missiles. The first of these is under delivery to the French military. The contract for vehicle integration and qualification was awarded in 2014, with the primary platform being France’s Jaguar Armoured Fighting Vehicles. That work is on-going and validation will be carried out in the 2018-2019 timeframe, with deliveries from 2020 onward. 

A VL-MICA launch from land (photo: DGA)

MMP has a range greater than four kilometres, and apart from its principal anti-tank mode, can be used to conduct direct fire support. The missile features a tandem warhead and dual mode seeker (uncooled imaging infrared and TV), and is controlled by a fibre-optic datalink to the firing post. MMP has two firing modes, a lock-on before launch (LOBL)‘fire and forget’ mode for line of sight or ‘shoot and scoot’ engagements, as well as a non-line of sight lock-on after launch (LOAL) mode. Both modes allow for ‘man in loop’ control and in-flight re-targeting to either abort a shot or engage a higher priority target. The firing post’s targeting sight doubles as the display for missile control post-launch. Vayu was given an opportunity to try an MMP simulator (an actual production-representative command post setup, but with virtual imagery displayed in the targeting sight) and despite no prior experience or instruction, was able to successfully complete LOBL and LOAL engagements, including in-flight re-targeting.

For India, the MBDA-L&T JV will initially propose the MMP ‘as is’ with warhead and smokeless propellant ToT as required by the RFI, for integration with the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) and as part of the BMP upgrade programme. However, Company officials noted that there is “no reason why additional ToT cannot be offered,” and detailed plans for further development of the missile system to be carried out by the JV. MMP fulfils the French MoD’s range requirements, but the missile was designed from the outset to require minimum modifications to extend its range. Should the missile be selected for Indian requirements, MBDA expects future range extension work to be carried out and validated by the MBDA-L&T JV in India itself.

In the surface-to-air arena, MBDA has had made little headway in the past five odd years, with a number of programmes cancelled before making it to the contract stage, and quite a few stuck in the sort of limbo that has unfortunately come to typify Indian defence procurement. For the Navy’s ostensibly urgent short-range surface to air requirement (SRSAM) the European missile house is offering both its VL-MICA as well as Sea Ceptor systems. The compressed timelines have necessitated offers of existing products instead of a proposal to continue and complete development of the MBDADRDO Maitri SRSAM, which has been hanging fire for some years now. The Maitri proposal was based around a larger airframe overall, with DRDO handling propulsion and MBDA offering ToT for the seeker, but the time required to resume the programme and complete development of the new system appears to be incompatible with the Navy’s stated urgency.

Sea Ceptor launch from HMS Argyll (photo: MBDA)

VL-MICA (Vertical Launch MICA) is simply the radar-guided variant of the air-to-air MICA missile adapted for vertical launch. The system has eight customers worldwide and has been in operation since 2013. It is a lightweight modular system with a range of about 20km and the ability to integrate with a range of radar and combat management systems. MBDA is working with the specifications of the BEL Revathi (3D CAR) radar supplied by the Navy, and based on simulations projects a single-shot kill probability (SSKP) of 90% for the combination. VL-MICA can also operate with a fire control system independent of the ship’s CMS, as well as accept targeting information from simpler 2D radars or even electro-optical sights. Deck penetration is two decks for the compact vertical launch cells, with ships as small as 1,500-2,000 tonnes able to accept a meaningful number of missiles. On larger capital ships, as many as 32 VLS cells can be installed. MBDA officials say there is no theoretical upper limit on the VLS installations, but no customer has ever requested more than 32.

The VL-MICA’s British counterpart, developed for the UK MoD, is the Sea Ceptor, based around the CAMM (Common Anti-air Modular Missile) interceptor. CAMM is based on the ASRAAM airframe, and has an identical diameter. Unlike VL-MICA, it can be quadpacked into the US Mk41 vertical launch system, Lockheed Martin’s Extensible Launch System (ExLS), as well as the French SYLVER VLS, and is soft-launched by a piston sitting atop a gas generator. Each missile is 3.2 metres long and weighs 100 kg, and the ASRAAM’s IIR seeker is replaced by a solid-state active radar (but with microwave generator and phase shifters separate, unlike an AESA). Midcourse guidance is inertial, with terminal radar homing and a two-way data link to communicate with the host CMS. According to MBDA, CAMM does not actually need a ‘weapons quality’ guidance track, and can be cued even by a surveillance radar to the general target area (rules of engagement permitting), before the onboard seeker takes over to lock and engage.

The missile is designed to engage a wide range of targets, including glide bombs, UAVs, anti-ship missiles, helicopters, fighters, and even small boats or fast attach craft. It can fit on most naval vessels in the 1,000-tonne class and larger, and the long 25-km range makes it a near local area defence weapon, although its primary role remains a short-range SAM for close protection. CAMM also has a short minimum engagement range of less than 1 km, and the Sea Ceptor system can conduct multiple simultaneous engagements, with up to 48 targets engaged in simulations so far.

A Mistral unit in Kourou, French Guiana (photo: MBDA)

The missile is designed to remain in its launch canister through its 20-year life, with preventive maintenance scheduled for the energetics every 10 or so years. The built in test functionality means the missiles do not need to be removed from their sealed canisters for functional testing.

Sea Ceptor has been successfully integrated with four Royal Navy Type 23 frigates so far, and HMS Argyll has successfully qualified the system with a series of test firings in the summer of 2017. The system will be fitted to all Type 23s in service by 2021, as well as the planned Type 26 frigates currently on order. In addition, Sea Ceptor has been contracted for by the Navies of New Zealand (for two ANZAC frigates), Chile (for three Type 23s), and Brazil (Tamandaré-class corvettes). The Type 23 refit marks the first time the Royal Navy has elected to retrofit an all-new SAM system across a fleet, this decision being enabled by the CAMM’s low footprint and the system’s low overall cost. The Brazilian order was seen as an endorsement of the system as the Brazilian Navy selected the Sea Ceptor system before freezing the design of the Tamandaré class.

The final surface-to-air offering has seen arguably the most protracted acquisition saga in recent memory – the Indian Army’s VSHORAD (Very SHOrt Range Air Defence) tender. MBDA’s offer is the Mistral, a 6-km range fire and forget manportable missile system with a speed of Mach 2.5 and a 3-kg warhead that combine to grant it a 96% kill probability in testing with global customers. The system, in its various guises, is in service with 42 operators across 30 countries, and is used across a wide range of operating conditions, from deserts to mountains to maritime.

With Saab’s RBS 70 and the Russian Igla-S as the other contenders, the VSHORAD procurement process has dragged on for over seven years. The RFP calls for 5,185 missiles and 800 launchers, and has seen multiple rounds of customer trials, the last of which was carried out in April 2017. It is understood that the Army has drafted the final report on the trials process, which has gone to MoD for further action and approval. MBDA claims to meet all technical requirements of the RFP, and representatives in Paris could only say that they hope the programme sees some movement soon.