“Long standing partnership strategy with India” MBDA at Defexpo 2018
MBDA is looking forward to another exciting and fruitful Defexpo, in line with our longstanding partnership strategy with India,” said Loïc Piedevache, Country Head, India, MBDA. As one would expect, MBDA is exhibiting a full range of its missiles and missile systems portfolio at Defexpo 2018 that could be of interest to India across the main defence domains: air, land and sea. “This Defexpo will also be particularly exciting as it will be the first time L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd, the joint venture formed with Larsen and Toubro in 2017, will exhibit at Defexpo. On this stand, the JV will be showcasing a number of products, including the ATGM5 and Exocet MM40 B3”.
Drawing on the next generation technologies of the MMP battlefield antitank weapon that recently entered service in France as an advanced successor to the highly successful MILAN, the ATGM5 will be designed and manufactured in India to meet India’s specific operational requirements. “It will be a true Indian Designed, Developed and Manufactured ( IDDM) product, involving the transfer of next generation key technologies to India, boosting the Indian defence industry sector”.
Exocet MM40 Block 3 is the latest version of the famous Exocet missile family, and includes the replacement of the missile’s traditional rocket motor with a turbojet to extend the range of the system out to 200 km while the missile’s already excellent navigation system has seen further enhancements. As the Indian Navy already operates the SM 39, which is part of the Exocet family, it would be a logical step to also use Exocet in other operational areas. In doing so, it could provide significant operational, logistics and training advantages.
MBDA will exhibit its high-performing Mistral man portable air defence system (MANPADS) “that has already performed exceptionally well in firing evaluation trials for India, more than meeting India’s operational requirements and what was demanded of the missile system in mountain, desert and maritime conditions”. As well as the operational advantages of the Mistral missile, there are major industrial advantages being offered if Mistral is selected for India’s VSHORAD requirement, with the missile to be fully manufactured under license in