Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has decided to join the Franco-British FC/ASW program, future anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles. A letter of intent has been signed.
The United Kingdom and France have confirmed in February of 2022 the launch of the preparation works for the Future Cruise / Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) programme, after the signature of a government agreement and associated contracts by the French Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) and the British Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S).
These preparation works will focus on the co-ordinated development of a programme of next generation deep strike and heavy anti-ship weapons. It will assess two complementary missile concepts, expected to be fielded at the end of the decade: a subsonic low observable concept and a supersonic, highly manoeuvrable concept.
These concepts are to meet the requirements of France and the UK and will provide a game changing capability to overcome land-based and maritime threats, hardened targets and air defence systems, at very long ranges and in increasingly contested battlespace environments. FC/ASW will complement MBDA’s portfolio of existing products that continue to be evolved to adapt to new threats.
The FC/ASW is a program launched by France and the United Kingdom to develop a missile system to replace their jointly-developed Storm Shadow/SCALP as well as their respective Exocet and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
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. The concept study of the FC/ASW, unveiled in 2011 at the Salon du Bourget in Paris, was called Perseus or CVS401 Perseus (named after the Greek hero Perseus), a stealth hypersonic cruise missile concept study undertaken by MBDA in consultation with the Royal Navy and French Navy. It was produced by 10 engineers working on the design for six months. The FC/ASW is powered by a ramjet motor, is 5 metres in length, weighs around 800 kg and has a payload comprising one 200 kg main and two 50 kg subsidiary warheads.
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