Paris, Berlin and Warsaw plan to develop a long-range ground-to-ground strike capability

Anything that can enhance deterrence is worth taking. This is in fact what Sebastian Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces, proposed, referring to the development of a long-range – or even very long-range – ground-to-ground offensive capability after a meeting with Boris Pistorius and Vladislav Kosiniak-Kamysh. His German and Polish counterparts on June 24.

At the end of May, during President Macron's state visit to Germany, “general and comprehensive long-term cooperation in the field of long-range strikes” was discussed. But no details were provided about this. So we had to wait for the first meeting of Weimar Triangle defense ministers since 2015 to find out more.

“The question of long-distance or very long-distance strikes, for the French, is always somewhat taboo because, in fact, we have no right to talk about conventional deterrence when we are a talented force. But finally, I broke this taboo several months ago when I said “Even a talented force needs to support its nuclear deterrence with a conventional deterrence system and, in any case, large conventional forces. And so, there too, the reflections are taking place,” declared Mr. Lecornu, during a press conference held with M.M. Pistorius and Kosniak Kamesh.

During the next NATO summit, which will be held from July 9 to 11 in Washington, the three countries are expected to sign a letter of intent to determine the foundations for future cooperation in this field. Without delay, Mr. Lecornu set a first milestone by noting that France “already has the capabilities and the technological building blocks,” with “the MdCN in particular.” [Missile de Croisière Naval]MBDA presented a land-based version at the EuroSatory 2024 arms show.

MBDA then argued that this was “the only sovereign European solution for a land-based cruise missile system, designed, produced and assembled in Europe.” To confirm, this missile is called LCM [pour Land Cruise Missile], will provide “the same exceptional capabilities as the MdCN, including its metric accuracy to strike the enemy in depth, at a safe distance, and its high level of survivability in contested environments thanks to its low radar cross-sectional area and fielding capability.” “Watching.”

As a reminder, the MdCN has a range of up to 1,000 km.

LCM is one of the solutions proposed by MBDA for the “Long Range Land Strike” programme. [FLP-T]which is also competing for Thales and ArianeGroup.

On the other side of the Rhine, we also began to march in an orderly manner. Thus, on June 21, the German Ministry of Defense submitted to the Bundestag a mandate to release an envelope worth 600 million euros for the development of the Tyrfing 3SM missile. [Super Sonic Strike Missile]Which can have a range of up to 1000 km. This programme, co-led by MBDA Deutschland and Kongsberg Norway, is not expected to be completed before 2035.

Note that for the future long-range indirect fire system for the German Armed Forces, MBDA Deutschland is also developing the Combined Fire Support Missile. [JFS-M]It is a cruise missile with a range of at least 300 km and is capable of compatibility with the M142 HIMARS and Euro-PULS systems.