BB85 wrote:The French walking away from the future replacement for storm shadow, sea scalp etc would he moronic when the UK is the only European partner willing to order in sufficient quantities to offset costs and there will be so much legal red tape I'm not even sure the French could develop a sovereign replacement without starting from scratch.
I think they'll be back in the room pretty quickly.
FCASW is not just important for the forces (the RAF and FAF need a new long range strike capability to replace SS/SCALP). But its also pretty crucial to their larger, follow on, combat air programmes (FCAS and Tempest). For MBDA it keeps some factories humming, and, crucially, refreshes their rather aging heavyweight line-up. You only have to look at their website to see why....Air Dominance, Battlefield Engagement and GBAD have modern, successful systems all over the place...then you come to Maritime Superiority (with the SAM and Combat Systems removed). Great at the low end, very, very modern (although admittedly not with massive sales yet, but some are repurposed land or air systems). Some exquisite, expensive systems that have limited export potential.....then a mass of legacy Anti-Ship missiles that have had multiple updates, but that can't hide their age...that used to sell well, with massive export potential.
MARITIME BRIMSTONE - Small
MMP/SEA LAUNCHED - V. Small
SEA VENOM-ANL - Small
MDCN-NCM - Very expensive, limited market
MILAS - Limited market, actually pretty good
EXOCET AM39
EXOCET SM39
EXOCET MM40 BLOCK 3
EXOCET MOBILE COASTAL
MARTE ER
MARTE MK2/N
MARTE MK2/S
MCDS: MOBILE COASTAL DEFENCE SYSTEM u Uses MARTE MK2/N
OTOMAT MK2 BLOCK IV
TESEO MK2/E