Timmymagic wrote:I'd say the exact opposite. FC/ASW's main purpose is to replace Storm Shadow/SCALP. A long range cruise missile is what is required. And that means stealthy, subsonic.SD67 wrote:I hate to say it but as a lay observer I think the French are right. In the West we have plenty of subsonic options. TLAM and Storm Shadow plus LRASM as an option. Why develop yet another to perform basically the same function. A supersonic Brahmos type would be a unique offering and worth the development risk IMHO.
Ask yourself this question...How many Storm Shadow/SCALP have been fired in combat by UK and French forces vs. Heavyweight Anti-Ship Missiles....?
The bundling in of the anti-ship missile requirement is a convenient one, but might not be the best idea. It makes sense for MBDA as their principal anti-ship missile (Exocet) for sales is clearly long in the tooth. They desperately (and quite rightly) want to retain sales and market share.
But also what is more effective? A stealthy, long range AShM like LRASM or a supersonic, shorter range missile like Sunburn/Brahmos. I know which one I'd rather face....the one that sneaks up on you is far more dangerous...
TLAM is long in the tooth as well. You have to question how survivable it would be against a competent enemy. Its not stealthy, its not that fast, it doesn't do terminal manoeuvres and doesn't fly that low. Will that really penetrate a PLAN task forces defences? The Japanese and Australians are buying JSM and LRASM....
Just to add to this. The French obviously have MdCN which is comparatively new, and whilst its a development of Storm Shadow, it will fill their sub and surface launched cruise missile requirement for the next 20+ years. The RN's need for a missile to replace Tomahawk is a lot more pressing. The French need for a long range strike weapon, possibly, isn't as acute as the UK's. Remember the French did, at one point, cut their SCALP holdings down to 100 from c400. After this they did expend some in Syria, so maybe they have re-assessed its utility, but it wasn't exactly a vote in favour of the Armee de l'Air retaining a really potent, rather than token, long range strike capability.
The desire to replace Exocet and for MBDA to have a strong product offering for anti-ship missiles is a good idea industrially and for sovereign capability, and thats all well and good, but don't forget Exocet has been built in France from the start and has been a huge export seller..... It won't have escaped MBDA's notice, or France's, that the naval arms race, particularly in N.Africa, the Gulf and the Pacific has led to a previously, post Cold War, moribund segment of the missile market heating up very quickly...to snag those sales they need something special. I'm sure they're looking at the success of NSM and JSM (which don't forget had a comparatively barren first 10 years out there in terms of sales) with a degree of envy.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't other benefits to the French....the development of the Supersonic Cruiser could assist the effort to replace the ASMP-A, which otherwise would be a cost purely borne by the French...(and I have to say a Stealthy, Long Range Cruise Missile armed with a nuclear warhead strikes me as a far greater threat to an enemy than a Super/Hypersonic missile delivered at far closer range.
