VL Mica chalks up naval success

from JDW 10 May 06

VL Mica chalks up naval success
Nick Brown Jane’s Naval Editor
London
An MBDA Vertical Launch (VL) Mica missile successfully completed its first vertical launch and engagement from a navy-specific launcher at the Centre d’Essai de Lancement des Missiles facility in southwest France in late April.
The missile exited the launcher correctly before punting over to home in on a very low-level target using its integral infra-red seeker in a lock-on-after- launch mode to guide the missile in to impact on the drone 10 km away.
Essentially based on a production Mica IR air-to-air missile fired from a surface vertical launcher, the VL Mica programme was originally conceived as a private venture by MBDA in 2000, but is now being conducted under a French tri- service requirement for a naval and land-based medium-range air defence system.
The major difference between the two launchers is that the naval version is based on containers featuring their own gas exhaust management systems, to vent out the missile’s heat and gas plume from below decks.
A similarly successful trial of the land-based VL Mica saw a missile launched from an ACMAT multirole vehicle in February 2005, but this trial of the navalised launcher was the first test firing since the French Délégation Générale pour l’Armement signed a two year VL Mica development deal with MBDA on 22 December 2005.
MBDA has long claimed foreign interest in the programme and the latest launch was apparently attended by a delegation from an interested foreign navy, but MBDA declined to note which country the delegation was from.

” *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance their understanding of arms trade activities, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml“