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LARINAE, the anti-armored loitering ammunition, takes off

With a range of 3 hours, between 80 and 120km, this loitering ammunition will carry a 3kg explosively-formed penetrator charge capable of dealing with armoured targets while foiling their active protection systems. In partnership with EOS Technologie and TRAAK, the first demonstrations with an inert charge will take place in early 2025.

This system which could be reusable will also enable it to carry out intelligence missions using an electro-optical system which is able to detect a vehicle at 15 km by day and 3 km by night. It will have navigation capabilities in a contested environment (jamming) thanks to its secured radio link at up to 80km provided by KNDS France Robotics. LARINAE is proposed with two different platforms: a vertical take-off and landing system (VTOL) and a high-speed UAV (VELOCE). Both are equipped with a high-performance solution for arming and disarmin the warhead, allowing the operator to recover them easily and safely.

Thales will be able to produce several hundred short-range loitering munitions, called TOUTATIS, starting in 2025.

KNDS France announced a new member of its growing family of loitering munitions at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX) 2025 held in Abu Dhabi from 17 to 21 February.

The MX-10 is a quadcopter with a range of 10 km, a fragmentation warhead of 550 g, an endurance of 40 minutes, and a jam-resistant datalink, according to KNDS France. Designed in conjunction with Delair, the MX-10 is already in production and being supplied to the French Armed Forces in undisclosed numbers, a KNDS official told Janes.

The MX-10 joins KNDS France's family of loitering munitions, which is now called Mataris, after a Gallic javelin. The family includes the co-axial MT-10 (formerly Ixos) and MV-25, a hand-launched fixed-wing munition with a maximum range of 25 km.

The MV-25 was originally designed for the French Defence Innovation Agency (Agence de l'Innovation de Défense: AID) ‘Colibri' competition, which it won in 2024. It features the same 550 g warhead as the MX-10.

Approximately 100 MX-10s have been supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of 2025, KNDS France officials said, and the company is receiving feedback from ongoing operations.

Another member of the Mataris family, called the MV-100, is being developed for the French Defence Procurement Agency's ‘Larinae' competition. Developed in conjunction with French company EOS, the fixed-wing MV-100 has a maximum range of 100 km, an anti-armour warhead of 2.5 kg, and a turbine engine that gives it both high speed and loitering capability. “This demonstrator will not only be capable of neutralising highly armoured targets, but also carrying out reconnaissance missions,” the company said.

The third short-range element of the Mataris family is the MT-10, which is still in development, the system being around TRL 5 according to the company. It could be defined as “flying warhead” as it is made of a cylindrical body at the bottom of which we find the typical 550 grams KNDS fragmentation warhead; the ensemble has the same diameter, the upper part containing electronics, battery and electric motors, the latter activating two two-blade counter-rotating rotors. Rotor blades can be folded downwards to allow the munition to be contained into a launch tube, from which it should be expelled using a pneumatic system, although those details have not yet been frozen.

The design is being made in-house by KNDS France, leveraging the work unveiled in 2019 on the IXOS LG UAV, aimed at providing the Leclerc main battle tank an air reconnaissance capability as part of a proposed upgrade package. The tube-launched configuration should mean that vehicle-borne use is still among the uses considered for this new UAV, an infantry use being however not excluded. Beside an easier packaging for a vehicle-borne use, KNDS considers that the counter-rotating rotors solution is much more discrete that the quadcopter architecture. Mass at take-off should be around 4 kg, with an endurance of over 30 minutes. No partner for production has yet been selected.

theoderich hat geschrieben: ↑Fr 21. Jun 2024, 01:33