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• Schlussfolgerungen des Deutsch-Französischen Verteidigungs- und Sicherheitsrats
  Meseberg, 28. Mai 2024
  

  • Frankreich und Deutschland werden gemeinsam mit Partnern eine langfristige, umfassende und inklusive Zusammenarbeit im Bereich weitreichender Abstandswaffen eingehen, was auch mit einer Stärkung der europäischen verteidigungsindustriellen Basis mit dem Ziel der Verbesserung unserer militärischen Fähigkeiten einhergehen wird.

  https://www.bundesregierung.de/resource ... download=1

France, Germany and Poland announced plans on Monday to join forces to buy longer-range precision weapons to fill a gap in European arsenals that they say has been exposed by Russia's war in Ukraine.

The defence ministers from the three countries said they would set up a mechanism to procure "deep precision strike weapons" such as cruise missiles, which other European powers could join.

"Deep precision strike weapons are a serious capability gap in Europe," German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after meeting his French and Polish counterparts in Paris - the first session of the so-called Weimar triangle grouping at that level since 2015.

"Until the (NATO) summit in Washington, we aim to bring together a group of like-minded European countries who agree to plug this gap in the medium to long term," Pistorius added.

The first formal step would be the group signing of a letter of intent at that NATO summit in July, he said.

France's Defence Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, said the letter aimed to assess what longer-range capabilities countries and companies had.

SSUN:

"The User requires a cost-effective, long range (>500km) One Way Effector (OWE) Heavy, capable of being safely ground launched from a mobile platform in a high threat tactical environment, navigating to and accurately striking a user-programmed target.

It shall be: operable in harsh physical environments, day and night, of low multispectral signature, resilient in a complex Electromagnetic environment (EME), including within a GNSS denied & degraded environment, and resistant against targeted EW attack and spoofing.

Subject to potential future contract, manufacturing shall be scalable to meet operational requirements at a minimum of 20 units per month, with the ability to further increase."

Overview:

UK MOD requires the ability to deliver an 200kg – 300kg class payload (Mk 82 for reference) over a target range of 600km at a speed of around 600km/h. This must be capable of being safely ground launched from a mobile platform in a high threat tactical environment, with reduced probability of detection / high survivability with minimal take-off distance. It should be mobile via vehicle, fitted to or towed by.

This can be done via any trajectory (ballistic or low-level cruise) and could use a missile, a drone, or another technology to deliver the effect, at day or night, following a pre-programmed route. If low level cruise, it must be able to navigate in a GNSS denied environment and have some form of end stage guidance as required, to an accuracy of CEP (0.5) of 30m.

The target cost per delivery platform must be no higher than £400,000 Ex VAT and excludes the launcher system and any GFX as listed below. This requirement is for technologies that can be packaged and demonstrated rapidly, including firing in a test range. The design should be free from external government trade and usage restrictions. The design must have the ability to be spirally developed, to improve performance characteristics.

Whilst a complete solution is being sought, if you are offering part of the solution, we encourage you to participate in the industry day and to explicitly state which part of the problem you are answering within the categories of:

1. Propulsion system, e.g. engine,

2. Airframe,

3. Navigation and targeting,

4. Ability to scale,

5. Launcher system.

The project will be prioritising scalability over exquisite solutions.

The following will likely be government furnished (GFX):

1. Payload

2. Fuses

3. Testing ranges/facilities

4. Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) support for scaling

5. DSTL advice

The aim is to deliver this product at pace, which means there is an aggressive timeline of a demonstration firing in Q2 2025 and, subject to contract, potential serial production from Q3 2025, producing a minimum around 20 platforms per month.