The DGA Notifies the Thundart Contract to MBDA and Safran: 26 Long-Range Land Strike Systems Before 2030
Paris, 10 September 2026
Key points
- MBDA and Safran Electronics and Defense announced on 10 September that the Direction générale de l'armement had notified them the Frappe Longue Portée Terrestre contract, the successor to the army's nine remaining LRU launchers, which cannot be kept in service beyond 2030
- The updated military programme law requires 26 systems delivered before 2030, with up to 26 more afterwards; the amount, and the split between firm and further systems, are not published
- The two companies will form a 50/50 joint venture in the Paris region by January 2027 for development, production, support and export variants; the first phase closed with a demonstration firing in April that the companies describe as above expectations
- The 150-kilometre rocket uses a Roxel motor and the guidance module of the AASM air-launched weapon on a Safran launcher; Catherine Vautrin announced the selection over the ArianeGroup–Thales bid at Eurosatory on 15 June
Three months after Catherine Vautrin picked it at Eurosatory, the Thundart long-range rocket system passed from selection to contract on 10 September, with the DGA's notification to MBDA and Safran fixing 26 systems before 2030 and up to 26 more, and leaving the value unpublished.
The programme replaces the Lance-Roquettes Unitaire, France's nine surviving HIMARS-derived launchers, which the army cannot sustain past 2030. Vautrin told the Senate in April that price and availability before that date would decide the competition against buying off the shelf in Asia, and on 15 June chose the Safran–MBDA offer over ArianeGroup and Thales's FLP-T. The notification converts the choice into a commitment: the updated programme law, promulgated on 18 August, writes 26 systems before 2030 into the requirement and up to 26 more beyond it. Neither the DGA nor the companies give a figure, and the split between firm and optional systems is not stated.
Industrially the announcement fixes the structure. Safran Electronics and Defense supplies the launcher and MBDA the missile system; the 150-kilometre rocket uses a motor from Roxel, the Safran–MBDA propulsion joint venture, and the guidance module of the AASM Hammer, the air-launched weapon Safran already produces at rate for Rafale and for Ukraine. A joint venture owned equally by the two, in the Paris region, stands up by January 2027 for development, production, support and export versions. The April firing, the companies say, exceeded expectations and showed robustness in constrained environments.
Twenty-six systems before 2030 is a rate France's land-systems industry has not delivered for a new launcher, and the AASM guidance module is the reason the companies can promise it. Hammer production was pushed past 1,200 a year for Ukraine, so the guidance line exists before the launcher does, and the joint venture's export mandate reads as the plan to amortise a 26-to-52 domestic run against a European market that has bought HIMARS, Chunmoo and PULS in the same period without a French entry. Signal No. 144 recorded the notification as a climb from selection to commitment; the unpublished value is the datum still missing, and the 2027 budget bill this autumn is where the price per system first becomes visible.
Related · French sovereign LRU successor
