In service in the French Army since 2018, the MMP is to date the only 5th anti-tank guided missile of the world to be deployed in military theatres of operations. To meet a wide range of naval requirements, MBDA can offer the same highly versatile MMP missile that is already in operational service with land forces. This new new naval offering based on the MMP was first unveiled at Euronaval 2018, following an operational evaluation campaign carried out in the summer of 2018 by the French special forces in Djibouti. During the operational evaluation campaign, a total of nine MMP missiles were fired with all reaching their target. Two of these shots were fired by the maritime force of marines and commandos from an ECUME RHIB. A first firing from the sea-to-land and the second from sea-to-sea have demonstrated the ease of use of the MMP.
The success of this evaluation allows MBDA to extend the integration perspectives of the MMP system and to propose it on fast attack craft or semi-rigid boats for missions against hostile ships, coastal defences or armoured vehicles, especially in support of a landing of small units or Special Forces. At IMDEX Asia 2019, the MMP system (firing post and missile) was presented on the Zodiac Milpro booth, installed on a Hurricane type RHIB. On fast patrol boats, MBDA says the MMP can be fired from a stabilised turret carrying four ready-to-fire ammunitions installed in launchers protecting the missiles from the maritime environment. The turret can be controlled from a dedicated console or from a multifunction console in the ship’s operations centre.
Missile Moyenne Portée (Medium-Range Missile/MMP) is a French man-portable anti-tank guided missile. It was developed by MBDA Missile Systems and is intended as a replacement for their MILAN, which has been sold worldwide. The MMP was designed to overcome some of MILAN’s limitations in the context of small-scale and counter-insurgency operations post-2000. In theatres such as Iraq and Afghanistan, man-portable missile were often used against strongpoints and improvised armour within populated areas. Reducing collateral damage to nearby civilians became a major political factor in such campaigns. Particular developments over existing missiles were for it to be safe for operators within a confined space, i.e. reduced backblast on launch, and for improved guidance that could target non-IR cold targets as well as AFVs with a reduced risk of collateral damage.
The missile and its guidance system offer three different operating modes: Fire-and-Forget, Man In The Loop with fibre optic data-link and Lock-on after launch (LOAL) for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and using third party target designation. A tandem warhead is used, making it effective against conventional, composite and reactive armour. Upon detonation, the warhead also sprays 1,500 tungsten splinters, effective against personnel out to 15 meters. A dual-band seeker in both IR and visible low-light video, enabling the engagement of hot and cold targets in all visibility conditions. Also dual mode, the firing post of the initial infantry version features a high resolution infrared cooled sensor and a daylight TV camera. The missile has a range of 4 km based on a French requirement, but in May 2018 two test firings were able to hit targets at 5 km.
