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As part of the Franco-British Future Cruise / Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) program, Rolls-Royce and Safran Power Units have signed an Assessment Phase contract with MBDA to mature a new propulsion solution for a subsonic, low observable missile, which is expected to be fielded before the end of the decade.
Signed at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022, the agreement means that Rolls-Royce and Safran Power Units will now work alongside MBDA to meet the propulsion requirements for the UK and French Governments, with the intent to provide a game changing capability to overcome hardened targets and air defense systems in increasingly contested battlespace environments.
The UK Ministry of Defence and the French Armament General Directorate (Direction Générale de l’Armement -DGA) have also signed a bilateral agreement for the FC/ASW program that will see the joint development of a next generation of deep strike and heavy anti-ship missiles.
“FC/ASW is a strategic program for the UK and France and we are very pleased to welcome Rolls-Royce and Safran Power Units into the team,” said Éric Béranger, MBDA CEO. “Their joint expertise will prove fundamental to the success of the subsonic FC/ASW concept, further strengthening the benefits of UK/French co-operation on this program.”
“Combining the strengths of industry from across the UK and France underlines the significance of this program,” said Alex Zino, EVP Business Development and Future Programmes for Rolls-Royce Defence. “With this collaboration, both companies will be able to demonstrate the strong alignment between the UK and French industry and can effectively work together to provide the power to protect our armed forces and our societies.”
“We are proud to join the FC/ASW program which further reinforces the strategic collaboration in this domain between the UK and France which began in the early 90s with the successful development of the SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow cruise missile engine,” said Ghislaine Doukhan, CEO Safran Power Units. “Safran Power Units brings to the team more than 60 years experience in the development and manufacturing of advanced propulsion systems for missiles such as MBDA Scalp, Exocet and MdCN (missile de croisière naval- naval cruise missile).”
