Future Cruise / Anti-Ship Weapon(s)
TypeCruise missile(s)
Place of originFrance, Italy, United Kingdom
Service history
In serviceExpected 2028 (land-attack variant) and 2034 (anti-ship variant)
Used byFrench Navy, French Air Force, Italian Air Force, Italian Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy
Production history
DesignerMBDA
Specifications

The FC/ASW ("Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon"), FMAN/FMC ("Futur missile anti-navire/Futur missile de croisière" in French), FOSW ("Future Offensive Surface Weapon") or SPEAR 5 is a new generation missile programme launched by France and the United Kingdom in 2017 to succeed their jointly-developed Storm Shadow/SCALP as well as their respective Exocet and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.[1][2][3][4] Equally funded by both countries, the project is led by European missile manufacturer MBDA and is a product of the close defence relationship set out between both nations by the Lancaster House treaties.[5] In June 2023, it was announced Italy would join the programme and began providing funding in November.[6][7]

In 2017, an agreement for the launch of a concept phase of the programme was signed between the two countries and, in March 2019, MBDA announced the key review of the programme was successfully completed in cooperation with the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) and the British Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).[3]

On 18 February 2022, an agreement and associated contracts signed by the head of the DGA, his British counterpart and the CEO of MBDA confirmed the launch of the preparation works for the FC/ASW.[8][2]

As of 2022 the programme was examining two complimentary missile concepts: a low observable subsonic cruise missile and a supersonic highly manoeuvrable missile; with the apparent discontinuation of a hypersonic solution similar to the CVS401 Perseus which was an early hypersonic missile concept from MBDA developed with input from both France and the UK.[8]

The latest timeline for the for the programme is that the assessment phase will be completed in 2024 and would move to the manufacturing phase from 2025 till 2035.[7] There was also confirmation of two different, role-specific variants with the announcement that a deep-strike, land-attack variant would be delivered from 2028 and an anti-ship variant from 2034.[7]

Early concept study (CVS401 Perseus)

An artist's depiction of the Perseus hypersonic multi-role cruise missile concept. Note the two submunitions which have been released from the lateral bays of the parent missile.

Unveiled in 2011 at the Salon du Bourget in Paris,[3] Perseus or CVS401 Perseus (named after the Greek hero Perseus) was a concept study undertaken by MBDA for a stealth hypersonic cruise missile designed in consultation with the Royal and French Navies and was produced by ten engineers working on the design for six months.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

The Perseus was to be approximately five metres (16 ft) in length, had a weight of around 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) and be powered by a ramjet motor. The payload consisted of one 200-kilogram (440 lb) main and two 50-kilogram (110 lb) subsidiary warheads which could either directly contribute to the overall impact or be ejected from lateral bays before the missile reaches its target, in effect acting as submunitions. This unique feature would allow a single Perseus to either strike several targets in the same general area or to strike a single large target (such as an aircraft carrier) in several different areas simultaneously, with the aim of maximising damage.

"In this case, a linear attack pattern could be selected, munitions striking the forward, centre and aft sections simultaneously. If a unitary blast is required, then the effectors remain on board the parent missile to add their blast effect to the central warhead."[12]

Two types of attack profiles were envisaged: a high-altitude approach, for engaging land-based targets; and a sea-skimming low-altitude approach terminating in a 'pop-up' engagement when dealing with surface threats like enemy warships.[12]

The missiles "skimming the sea at wave top" followed by a pop-up manoeuvre would only allow an estimated 3 second response time for enemy warships.[14]

The conceptualised sensor suite consisted of a multi-mode active e-scan radar with synthetic aperture radar and doppler beam sharpening, a laser radar (lidar) for terminal phase imaging and target recognition, and finally a "semi-active laser guidance capability, which MBDA believes will remain important for time-sensitive targeting for many years to come. Additionally, satellite datalink is to be incorporated for in-flight re-targeting using thin-profile, low-observable active antenna arrays.[12]

MBDA animations showed Perseus to be vertically launched from surface warships as well as from the torpedo tubes of submerged attack submarines.[16]

Development

Programme initialisation

At the 2016 UK–France Security Summit, the two parties pledged to work on a "joint concept phase for the FC/ASW programme" to cooperate and identify solutions for replacement of both nations' jointly-developed Scalp/Storm Shadow cruise missiles, as well as their respective heavyweight anti-ship missiles; Harpoon for the UK and Exocet for France; leveraging the agreements set out in the 2010 Lancaster House Treaties[17] At the 2018 United Kingdom-France Summit, the FC/ASW programme was further affirmed.[18]

In July 2021, then UK Secretary of State for Defence Jeremy Quin, responded to a question on the in-service date for FC/ASW, stating: "The planning assumption for service entry for Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon on the Type 26 Frigate and Typhoon aircraft is 2028 and 2030 respectively".[19]

I-SSGW

As a result of FC/ASW being unable to deliver a weapon before 2020, the then retirement date for the UK's Harpoon stockpile, In 2019 the UK began the £200 million Interim Surface to Surface Guided Weapon (I-SSGW) programme to procure a small stockpile of replacement missiles that would provide both anti-ship and land-attack capability (the latter of which was not a capability present in the Harpoon) in the interim until FC/ASW yielded a more capable replacement around 2030. To facilitate the selection and procurement of I-SSGW, Harpoons out-of-service-date would be pushed back to 2023 to provide more time to allow for the interim to be selected and enter service.[20]

In November 2021, It was announced that the I-SSGW programme had been cancelled. First Sea Lord Admiral Tony Radakin explained to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee that the I-SSGW was seen as a "sticking-plaster approach" delivering only a "modest" capability for a short-period of time that would quickly be replaced by the more capable FC/ASW solution and that instead it would be more beneficial to just invest entirely in the FC/ASW programme. This decision would leave the UK without any heavyweight surface-launched anti-shipping capability for most of the 2020s after Harpoon retires and before FC/ASW enters service and was therefore controversial.[21][22][23][24]

On 5 July 2022, during another Commons Defence Select Committee session, it was announced that the I-SSGW programme had restarted, possibly in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[22] On 23 November 2022, in was announced that the Norwegian Naval Strike Missile (NSM) had been selected for the I-SSGW with eleven sets purchased to equip the Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers with the possibility of migrating some of the sets to the Type 26 or particularly the Type 31 frigates in the future.[25][26] Under the newly named Maritime Offensive Surface Strike programme (MOSS), NSM had its initial operating capability declared on 19 December 2023 a week after the first set was successfully installed on HMS Somerset.[27]

AUKUS backlash

In September 2021 the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to progress the project was postponed by France in response to the AUKUS security pact which saw Australia cancel the acquisition of French-designed conventional submarines (Attack-class) in favour of nuclear submarines based on technology from United States and United Kingdom (SSN-AUKUS).[28][29]

Missile concepts reveal

In February 2022, the UK and France signed a government agreement and associated contracts as part of the FC/ASW program.[8] This also came with the announcement that the program had begun assessing two complementary concepts for the missile's design: a subsonic low observable missile and a supersonic missile with high manoeuvrability.[30][8][31] This announcement also appeared to confirm that program had discounted the development of a hypersonic missile akin to the conceptualised Perseus, instead choosing to invest further into subsonic/supersonic missile designs. Indications for a two-missile solution for the program had been publicly displayed almost a year prior at DSEI 2021; then previously described as a subsonic and hypersonic solutions, it was reported by Naval News that the British were favouring the subsonic munition whilst the French were favouring the hypersonic option.[32][33]

On 22 July 2022, Naval News reported that the UK's Roll-Royce and France's Safran had jointly signed an assessment phase contract with MBDA to collaborate in producing the propulsion systems for the FC/ASW program, predominantly around the subsonic missile design.[33]

Italian membership

In June 2023 during the Paris Air Show, Italy signed a letter of intent with the UK and France to join the FC/ASW program, likely as a means of fielding future replacements both for Italy's Storm Shadow/SCALP stockpiles and for its indigenous Teseo anti-ship missiles. This also came with an announcement that FC/ASW was expected to leave the concept phase and launch the primary design phase starting in 2024 with the finished product(s) entering service around 2028–2030.[6]

On 17 November 2023, Shepard News reported that Italy had confirmed its initial funding of €10 million out of €150 million for the development of FC/ASW between 2023 and 2028.[7][34]

Early design characteristics

The Italian funding announcement on 17 November 2023 also came with another timeline announcement stating that a deep-strike, land-attack variant would be delivered in 2028 and an anti-ship variant delivered in 2034, confirming that the programme would now produce two role-specific missile variants of as of yet unspecified designs.[7][34]

Despite the earlier announcement in 2022 of complimentary subsonic and supersonic concepts, there was still confusion as to whether this was in fact confirmation of the programme actually producing two missiles or merely examining which of the two concepts best fit the requirements of all parties (potentially with some parties choosing to field one concept over the other).[35] Some commentators such as Navy Lookout still continued to report that a single weapon (including a hypersonic solution) was being sought.[20][36][37] Others outlets such as Naval News saw it likely that a family of weapons were under development and that both a predominantly French-designed supersonic missile, and a predominantly British-designed subsonic missile would be fielded together as complimentary weapons.[33][38] Others still were curious as to how the programme would meet the diverse surface-launched requirements of all parties, with the British seemingly requiring a vertically launched solution whilst the French and Italian navies with fewer strike-length vertical launch cells available would more likely require a canister-launched capability.[35] There had also yet to be any mention of submarine-launch capability to replace existing submarine-launched missile variants such as the Exocet SM39.[35][37]

On 13 November 2023, defence journalist Gabriele Molinelli reported that MBDA UK had begun looking at suppliers for the design and manufacture of two weapons containers suspected to be for the FC/ASW program beginning in 2026. One was for a 7 x 0.7 m container with a total full weight of 3,350 kilograms (7,390 lb) believed to be for naval vertical-launch systems; the other is to be 6 metres (20 ft) and have a weight when full of over 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb) and believed to be for an air-launched effector.[39] The confirmation suggests that the programme will produce at least one variant of the missile compatible with the either the Mark 41 vertical launching system for the Royal Navy (likely for the Type 31 and Type 26 frigates)[36][37] or the Sylver A70 for France and Italy vessels (possibly to replace France's existing cruise missile, the MdCN), or both.[35]

Operators

Future operators

France France
Italy Italy

United Kingdom United Kingdom

Similar missiles

  • AGM-158 JASSM - an American subsonic, low-observable, land attack cruise missile.
  • AGM-158C LRASM - an American subsonic, low-observable, anti-ship cruise missile derived from the AGM-158 JASSM.
  • ASM-3 – a Japanese supersonic anti-ship missile.
  • BrahMos – an Indo-Russian supersonic anti-ship missile derived from the P-800 Oniks.
  • Hsiung Feng III - a Taiwanese supersonic anti-ship missile.
  • P-800 Oniks – a Russian supersonic anti-ship missile.
  • YJ-12 – a Chinese supersonic anti-ship missile.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SPEAR Missile - Think Defence". www.thinkdefence.co.uk. 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
  2. 1 2 Vavasseur, Xavier (February 18, 2022). "Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon FC/ASW Program Reaches New Milestone".
  3. 1 2 3 Smaldore, Yannick (July 31, 2019). "Will the French-British FC/ASW Missile Program Survive a Hard Brexit ?".
  4. ↑ "A guide to the Type 26 Frigate | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2022-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  5. ↑ "France & UK Launch Next-Gen Missile Project with MBDA to Replace Harpoon/Scalp/Exocet by 2030". Navy Recognition. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  6. 1 2 Vavasseur, Xavier (June 26, 2023). "Italy Joins France and the UK for FC/ASW Program".
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Italy finally funds naval missile projects | Shephard". www.shephardmedia.com. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "UK and France advance future cruise / anti-ship weapon project". MBDA.
  9. ↑ "Meteor - Ramjet - High End Missile Propulsion Systems". Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "13th Report - Future Anti-Ship Missile Systems: Joint inquiry with the Assemblée nationale's Standing Committee on National Defence and the Armed Forces" (PDF). UK House of Commons Defence Select Committee. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. ↑ "Rapport d'information déposé en application de l'article 145 du règlement, par la commission de la défense nationale et des forces armées, en conclusion des travaux d'une mission d'information conjointe sur la prochaine génération de missiles anti-navires (Mme Natalia Pouzyreff et M. Charles de la Verpillière)". Assemblée nationale.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Perseus: MBDA's missile of the future?". ihsmarkit.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014.
  13. ↑ "IISS Experts' Commentary - From the Paris Air Show: Enter Perseus". Archived from the original on June 28, 2012.
  14. 1 2 Harding, Thomas (21 June 2011). "New British missile three times as fast as current weapons". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Defence Committee, Commission de la Défense Nationale et des Forces Armées, Oral evidence: Future Anti-ship Missile System – Joint Inquiry, HC 1071, Q118". UK House of Commons Defence Select Committee. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  16. ↑ MBDA CVS401 Perseus Missile Concept, retrieved 2023-10-13
  17. ↑ "UK-France Summit 3rd March 2016" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  18. ↑ "2018 United Kingdom-France Summit Security and Defence" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  19. ↑ "Guided Weapons: Procurement". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  20. 1 2 "More details emerge about plan to replace Royal Navy Harpoon anti-ship missile | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  21. ↑ Allison, George (2021-11-06). "UK stops interim anti-ship missile project". Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  22. 1 2 "Royal Navy changes course on interim anti-ship missile for a second time | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  23. ↑ "Solving the Royal Navy's lethality problems | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  24. ↑ "Royal Navy rows back on plans to acquire new anti-ship missiles before 2030s | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. November 4, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Royal Navy to buy the Naval Strike Missile | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  26. ↑ Thomas, Richard (2022-11-23). "New missile selection ends UK's anti-ship dilemma, for now". Naval Technology. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  27. ↑ Vavasseur, Xavier (2023-12-19). "UK Royal Navy Declares IOC with Naval Strike Missile". Naval News. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  28. ↑ Cabirol, Michel (4 October 2021). "Sous-marins australiens : le programme franco-britannique de missiles de croisière en suspens". La Tribune (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  29. ↑ Chuter, Andrew (2021-09-21). "Decisions on new British-French cruise missile are left hanging after submarine row". Defense News. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  30. ↑ "MBDA unveils its vision of Future Air Systems | Press Release". MBDA. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  31. ↑ "Tempest | Team Tempest | Royal Air Force". www.raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  32. ↑ Naval News (24 September 2021). "DSEI 2021 day 4: MBDA missiles, TKMS XLUUV, MSI Defence Seahawk, IAI Sea Serpent anti-ship missile". Youtube. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  33. 1 2 3 Vavasseur, Xavier (2022-07-22). "Rolls-Royce and Safran Team Up for FC/ASW Next Gen Missile". Naval News. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  34. 1 2 Peruzzi, Luca (2023-11-20). "Italian MoD's Defence Planning Document 2023-2025: New naval and joint programs". Naval News. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  35. 1 2 3 4 gosnold (2020-11-23). "Options for the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon". The restless technophile. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  36. 1 2 "Royal Navy's Type 31 frigates to be fitted with Mk41 vertical launch system | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2023-05-17. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  37. 1 2 3 "Royal Navy's Type 26 Frigates to be equipped with cruise missiles by 2028 | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  38. ↑ Allison, George (2023-07-02). "UK's new cruise & anti-ship missile ready by 2028". UK Defence Journal. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  39. ↑ Molinelli, Gabriele (13 November 2023). "Post by Gabriele Molinelli". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2023-11-15.
Notes
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