Indo Pacific 2025: NIOA, MBDA sign Mistral agreement
MBDA and NIOA have signed an agreement to collaborate on Mistral, pictured above. (MBDA)
Australian firm NIOA has signed an agreement with MBDA to collaborate on the European missile manufacturer's Mistral manportable air-defence system (MANPADS).
An announcement made jointly by MBDA and NIOA on 5 November said the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the integration of Australian-made warheads for the Mistral series of missiles.
“Co-design, co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment of capabilities such as Mistral missiles will make effective use of combined resources, strengthening collective defence industrial capacity, enhancing interoperability, and accelerating technology development,” NIOA Group CEO Rob Nioa said.
The companies said in their announcement, “The French-made Mistral is a very short-range air-defence (VSHORAD) system that works on a ‘fire-and-forget' mode, with a high-manoeuvrability supersonic speed, guaranteeing a short interception time.
“These functionalities allow it to intercept a wide variety of threats, from aircraft to helicopters, drones, cruise missiles, missile-capable navy gunboats, and loitering munitions.”
Mistral is a tripod-mounted MANPADS that was developed to meet the requirements of the French Armed Forces in the 1980s. The system has since undergone various enhancements to suit military requirements.
The Mistral MANPADS comprises the missile in its container-launcher tube, a vertical tripod stand, a pre-launch electronics box, a daytime sighting system, and a battery/coolant unit. The system employs a solid propellant to launch the missile.
The latest variants of Mistral, such as the Mistral-3 and Mistral-3 Extended Range, have a maximum range of approximately 7 km and an altitude of approximately 6 km. They also feature an infrared homing guidance system with an imaging seeker and proportional navigation.
For more information, please see Australia lays out short-term plan for GWEO Enterprise .
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