MBDA recently said it had another Aspide 2000 success in Kuwait, reaffirming the missiles’ status as a reliable interceptor.
The Aspide 2000 has a RF seeker and over 25 km interception capability.
Fired from a Skyguard air defense system, the Aspide 2000 missiles brought down two Banshee remotely piloted targets at the Kuwait Air Defense Brigade’s Adeira range during a live firing air defense exercise carried out on Dec. 18 and 19. Both targets were destroyed, in one case by a direct hit and in the other by a close-range explosion. The intercept took place at a range of around 6 km and at an altitude of around 1,500 meters. These successful intercepts add to the already solid evidence of the reliability of this MBDA missile.
The Skyguard air defense system is produced by Finmeccanica and MBDA as an autonomous ground-based short range air defense system that fires Sparrow/Aspide missiles.
During the exercise, Aspide 2000 achieved a launch record for Kuwait–all 19 launches since 2007 having been successful despite varying weather conditions, with launches taking place both at night and day, at both medium and long ranges and at both high and low altitude.
The success of this latest Kuwait exercise is further confirmation of Aspide’s effectiveness–5,000 missiles have been produced to date–and of the robustness of the modernized system’s design.
MBDA expects this to be another boost to the export potential of the missile that international markets are increasingly considering as one of the best performing in the medium-range ground-to-air missile sector.
MBDA is jointly held by BAE Systems, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co, and Finmeccanica.