Within the framework of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), on 19 November 2018 the EU Defense Ministers approved the BLoS project (Beyond Line of Sight) of the EU for the development of a family of BLoS missile systems man-on-the-loop with image from the back.
Subsequently, the European Defense Industrial Development Program (EDIDP) funded the LYNKEUS project in 2019, involving France, Belgium, Sweden and the Republic of Cyprus. This project is aimed at developing an anti-tank missile system - starting from MBDA's AKERON MP missile (opening photo) - capable of engaging targets at very long distances.
The new system does not want to represent an alternative to loitering munitions but to give an infantry squad the ability to hit armored / armored targets well beyond the range that a smaller unit generally has.
The system consists of using a mini-drone to locate a possible target located beyond sight and communicate its coordinates to the firing station of the AKERON MP missile, which has a maximum range of 5.000 meters.
In 2021 the French Army and the Directorate-General for Armaments (DGA) have completed a first tactical evaluation of this capability, with the use of an AKERON MP against a tank located outside the operator's line of sight (the test was positive). An NX-70 mini UAV from the French manufacturer Novadem was used for the occasion.
Recently, further tests have been carried out in the Republic of Cyprus (also successful) as evidenced by the Twitter post of the Cypriot Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides (see Tweet).
Even before these last tests, as part of the program European Defense Fund (EDF), the European Commission launched, last July, the MARSEUS (Modular Architecture Solutions for EU States) project, which is an extension of LYNKEUS (photo).
This latter project "Conducted in close collaboration with the French, Belgian, Cypriot and now Swedish armed forces, exploiting the results of the LINKEUS, it aims to consolidate a European operational concept around the BLoS capability of missiles for contact combat and combat in a multi -domain. Consolidated through a vision of the management of effects ", commented MBDA. And specifying that it would also be "Identify and test new emerging technological solutions likely to contribute to the future evolutions of these weapon system architectures".
The project is entirely under European control, to ensure autonomy of use, security of supply and scalability. Growing geostrategic instability makes it increasingly important for European states to independently develop and control such ground-based combat capabilities.
There is no doubt that Europe must have its own autonomy in having sophisticated armaments. With the end of the Cold War, the armies of the Old Continent preferred to acquire anti-tank systems from the United States and Israel (JAVELIN and SPIKE). This industrial approach has generated a dependency on supplies that Europe cannot afford to have.
Probably, in the near future, Italy will also join the MARSEUS project, in order to integrate it, among others, also on the new AIFV that will have to be acquired by the Italian Army, to replace the now obsolete VCC-80 Dart. As repeatedly pointed out in this magazine, future infantry combat vehicles, in addition to providing an adequate level of protection to soldiers, will also have to be platforms multifunctional e multi-domain, able to manage multiple weapon systems (such as loitering munitions and BLoS missile systems), as well as equipped with equipment capable of emitting electromagnetic waves to counter, together with base 35 mm automatic cannons, the actions of enemy drones.
Photo: MBDA
