MBDA ASMPA shot from a Dassault Rafale

Launched in the summer of 2014, the development stage of the ASMPA renovation program, a strategic missile developed by MBDA, entered a very concrete phase on December 9, 2020 with the first firing from a Dassault Rafale fighter as part of a program under DGA prime contractor management. The Rafale took off from Cazaux Air Force Base 120 and "throughout its flight phase, MBDA's missile was monitored by DGA Missile Tests in Biscarosse, Hourtin and Quimper, with the participation of DGA Flight Tests," said the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. This first firing launches the qualification phase of the renovated ASMPA missile, "a prerequisite before it can be put into service in the Strategic Air Forces of the French army and space and in the French Navy's Nuclear Naval Air Force (FANU)".

Waiting for ASN4G successor

This renovation in the mid-life of the nuclear missile, which already equip  the air components of strategic forces, will be followed of another step : 2035 ‘s one with the arrival of the new 4th generation air-to-ground nuclear missile (ASN4G), which must beneficiate of a technological break in  the field of hypervelocity (very high speed and very high maneuverability). This technological leap will be ensured by France's perfect mastery of ramjet technology since 1987. The ASN4G will still be carried by a Rafale fighter, but also its successor, the NGF, which will be developed as part of the SCAF program.