A SAMP/T system has made Western Europe’s first interception of a target simulating a ballistic missile. The firing took place on 18 October at the DGA test range in Biscarrosse. It used an ASTER 30 missile. Few details available at the moment, but very brief (and rather uninformative) press releases have just been published by MBDA and Thales.
By: Das Kardinal - 26th November 2010 at 17:17
Good to see an indigenous European ABM system making progress !
By: sferrin - 26th November 2010 at 16:27
Any video of the intercept?
By: swerve - 26th November 2010 at 14:39
AFAIK –
The mis-named Aster 30 Block II is a new missile, which I think shares only a booster with the basic Aster 30.
Aster 30 Block 1 is a standard Aster 30 with guidance modifications to enable it to intercept ballistic missiles.
Aster 30 (no block number) is the basic anti-aircraft only missile.
By: toan - 26th November 2010 at 04:21
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aw/dti0108/index.php?startpage=38
The original Aster-30 Block1 has been declared to have the capability for engaging the Ballistic missile of 600 km class.
The future Aster-30 Block2 shall be an ATBM with dual-rocket accelerator, maximal speed of seven Mach-class, kinetic hunting vehicle of PAC-3 style, and the ABM capability for engaging the ballistic missile of 1500 to 2000 km class.
By: Grim901 - 25th November 2010 at 23:55
Very interesting. I thought they needed to modify the 30 quite a bit (the proposed Aster 45) in order to make it ABM capable.
By: djcross - 25th November 2010 at 23:24
Good news! 😀
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November 25, 2010 at 10:34 pm