To cope with current and future operational scenarios and threats, maintaining the reliability and effectiveness of the Exocet missiles family, in addition to the newest shipborne/land-based MM40 Block 3c version, the MBDA group is completing the development of a new more capable submarine-launched model which features the latest technologies applied to the new shipborne version, having already found international success
According to the 2025 defence budget law recently presented to the French Parliament, under the so-called “Operation Exocet Evolutions”, the French MoD plans to upgrade the air- and submarine-launched versions with the new technologies already applied to the shipborne model.
Having evolved and expanded through its lifespan, the Exocet family of antiship missiles is in service in three different versions being launched respectively by air (AM39), surface (MM40 Block 3/3c, underwater (SM39) and ground (MM40 Block 3/3c) platforms. With 36 customers worldwide, of which almost half are equipped with the latest Block 3/3c versions, the Exocet family will reach by the end of 2024 the 4000th manufactured missile, a testimony of the successful weapon system which continues to edge the anti-ship warfare arena thanks to unceasing updating activities that are expected to continue also in the future, according to information provided by Pierre-Marie Belleau, Head of Business development for deep strike missiles during the pre-Euronaval press tour visit to MBDA’s Le Plessis Robinson facility near Paris.
Based on the more recent worldwide operations and regional crisis and customer requirements, MBDA has further developed and enhanced the anti-ship weapon system with the latest Block 3c version to cope with peer-to-peer combat environments and extremely complex electronic warfare in all-weather conditions.
Under an initial contract awarded by the French DGA in 2011, MBDA developed the MM40 Block 3c version of which first new production missiles were delivered in December 2023, according to the 2025 defence budget documentation, after a demanding acceptance process and technical operational evaluation, which culminated in the successful firing on 20 September 2023, which was conducted in the most awful electronic warfare scenario ever used so far according to MBDA, developed by the Marine Nationale together with the DGA.
Entered into service in late 2010, the MM 40 Block 3 is characterized by a 4.7 metres long (5.95 metres with the tandem booster) and 540 kg airframe (780 kg with booster), featuring a Safran TR40 turbojet providing an extended operational range of 250 km, according to French MoD documentation, and a guidance suite including an active RF seeker and an advanced hybrid INS/GPS navigation package, alongside a modern launch and mission planning infrastructure, which allows for the programming of 3D way-points, optimised trajectories and simultaneous terminal attacks of multiple missiles. The GPS-aided navigation suite permits also attacks on ships in harbour or even soft land targets such as airfields.
As the Block 3 maintains the same non-coherent seeker of the Block 2 version, to cope with the current and future demanding scenarios in contested and electronically congested environments, and benefiting from latest homing, guidance and navigation technologies, MBDA has introduced an enhanced electronic package for the Block 3c, which is centred on a new J-band active coherent seeker provided by Thales. The latter features adaptive patterns and metric resolution, providing improved detection, selectivity of targets, i.e. discriminating between military and civilian maritime traffic, and electronic counter counter-measures (ECCM) in all electronic warfare conditions. To cope with the capacity improvement offered by the new seeker, MBDA completely modified the weapon controller and introduced a new software architecture with new algorithms, in addition to a new digital altimeter and other undisclosed navigation enhancements, which EDR On-Line understood including an anti-jam GPS receiver.
In addition to the first batch (35 munitions) of new Block 3c missiles with deliveries to be completed in 2024, and a second one for an undisclosed number of missiles awarded in May 2024, the French DGA has so far contracted MBDA for a first batch of upgrading kits for in-service Block 3 weapons, the first of which were made available in August 2024, according to the French MoD.
The Block 3c achieved international success having been ordered by the Hellenic Navy to equip the new Naval Group FDI frigates under procurement, and few other undisclosed export customers, including NATO/European ones, while it is gaining significant market interest from other foreign nations, according to MBDA.
The 2025 defence budget law also introduced for the first time the so-called “Operation Exocet Evolutions”, under which the French MoD plans to upgrade the air- and submarine-launched versions with the new technologies already applied to the shipborne model, namely the new coherent seeker. The project is expected to be launched in 2025 and could benefit from the further developments activities MBDA is adopting on the new submarine-launched version, among others.
The latest kid on the blocks: the SM40
As the sole European supplier of submarine launched anti-ship weapons based on the SM39 model having entered into service in 1984 with the Marine Nationale SSNs and SSBNs, and at least four other Navies using the Naval Group Scorpene and other conventional submarines, MBDA is working to maintain the edge with a new submarine-launched version of the Exocet family called SM40. The SM39 is housed in a water-tight, highly resistant, propelled and guided underwater vehicle (Véhicule Sous-Marin, VSM) which is launched from the submarine’s standard 533 mm torpedo tubes. The missile is ejected as soon as the VSM breaks the surface, to ensure a very low culmination altitude, contributing to submarine survivability. With a length and diameter of respectively 4.69 and 0.35 metres and a 655 kg mass, the SM39 missile is equipped with a two-stage solid propellant motor providing a maximum range of 60 km. Although the missile electronics was upgraded with the Block 2 Mod 2 upgrade programme, the SM39 has a shorter range that compels the underwater launching platform to get closer to the targeted surface vessels, which nowadays are equipped with more capable sonar systems and lightweight torpedoes, increasing the potential vulnerability of the firing platform. To cope with the stand-off requirement and provide enhanced anti-surface warfare capabilities to national and international customers, MBDA is developing the new missile starting from the MM40 Block 3/3c airframe and propulsion package The resulting SM40 missile is shorter but maintains the same airframe diameter of the MM40 while featuring modified foldable wings, a smaller and less powerful booster, and the same electronic suite of the “3c” model, including the new seeker. Thanks to its design, it has a range of around 120 km, the double of the SM39, with which it shares the capability to be launched from depth, allowing to outperform the range of today adversary sonar suites of surface, underwater and airborne platforms. The SM40 uses the same VSM of its predecessor, represented by a watertight and pressurised torpedo-shaped capsule which is 5.8 metres long and has an undisclosed mass (1,350 kg for the SM39). The VSM consists of a nosecone, a cylindrical body containing the missile and the propulsion section at the rear. The latter is based upon a solid propellant rocket motor by Roxel and includes a battery, actuators and eight fins, which combine with efflux control to direct the capsule. The VSM is ejected from the torpedo tube by a ram and after one or two seconds the rocket motor ignites, taking it to a speed of about 20 m/s. The SM40 maintains all the benefits offered by the SM39 VSM which can be launched from periscope or extreme depths providing a large launch envelope (regarding submarine speed and depth). If the VSM is launched at periscope depth it will continue to dive and then turn to the surface; when it is launched from greater depths, it will go directly through the surface, striking the latter at an angle of 45° and between 150 and 200 metres in front of the launch position. The VSM is capable to manoeuvre underwater left and right of the launching direction, providing another way for hiding the real position of the submarine. Capable to operate up to Sea State 6, as it breaks the surface, and thanks to onboard sensors, the VSM reaches an angle of around 12° while a small gas generator ejects the nosecone. When the VSM is at some 20 metres above the water, the missile is ejected together with the sabots that secured it inside the capsule, and the wings unfold. In few seconds the missile’s booster ignites and the missile acts exactly like a ship-launched Exocet.
Being in the early design phase and with reduced development risk, MBDA looks for a launch customer to reach production. This could be the case of the French Navy which is embarking herself in a programme to upgrade its in-service submarine- and airborne-launched versions.
Images courtesy MBDA
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