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PARIS—The team of ArianeGroup, Soframe and Thales developing the X-Fire rocket system says it plans to offer conventional ballistic missile strike capability to engage targets at up to 2,500 km (1,553 mi.).
The partners say they are working on two versions of what they are calling B-Strike: one 1,000-km-version and one capable of reaching out to 2,500 km. The companies are in talks with French procurement agency DGA to get the program going.
“We are ready,” says Ariane Group Executive Vice President for Defense Programs Vincent Pery. The company could quickly move to flight trials, he told reporters, without putting a timeframe on when that might happen. Timing, he notes, is customer dependent.
The short-range ballistic missile would reach an apogee of more than 120 km, fly at around Mach 10 and strike targets in under 10 min. It could be deployed from the X-Fire launcher, which could transport two missiles. The medium-range version would have an apogee greater than 150 km, fly at roughly Mach 15 and hit its target in less than 15 min. Both systems would have maneuverable reentry vehicles.
Pery says the company is looking to keep commonality as much as possible across the systems.
The French government still needs to decide what the payload for the ballistic missiles would be, including whether to tip it with a hypersonic glide vehicle the country has been developing.
The ballistic missiles would augment the 150-km rockets that the trio is offering to France and others.
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