MBDA Demonstrates Anti-Surface Capabilities of the Mistral Missile

PARIS — MBDA successfully demonstrated the use of the Mistral missile against fast boats such as fast inshore attack craft during tests conducted at the end of the year, the company said in a Jan. 9 release.

A number of foreign delegations attended the demonstration firing that was performed from a SIMBAD-RC automated naval turret firing from the land against a fast-moving, remotely controlled semi-rigid boat more than 3 kilometers off the coast. The scenario was intended to be representative of the self-protection of a vessel against an asymmetric threat (commando or terrorist attack).

In its latest version currently in service with the French armed forces, the Mistral is an air-defense missile equipped with an imaging infrared seeker with advanced image processing capabilities that allow it to engage low thermal signature targets from a long distance (such targets include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles and fast boats), while at the same time offering excellent resistance to countermeasures.

The SIMBAD-RC is a remotely-controlled very short-range naval air defense system that provides highly efficient capacities against a wide range of threats, from combat aircraft through anti-ship missiles to small-sized threats such as UAVs.

The system is easy to install and thus provides small units or support vessels with a true self-defense capacity or can even ensure reinforced defense for the other types of surface vessels. Each turret supports two ready-to-fire Mistral missiles. The turret is remotely operated, allowing the operator to remain under cover in the vessel’s operation center, and thus ensures longer operational availability in case of a combat alert.

“MBDA is constantly striving to help armed forces make optimum use of their investments in our products,” said Antoine Bouvier, MBDA CEO. “The demonstration of the SIMBAD-RC Mistral combination against surface targets reflects our policy of giving our systems additional capacities to supplement those they were originally designed to provide.”