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FARNBOROUGH, England—MBDA has unveiled an upgrade to its ground-launched Asraam air defense system, pairing the missile with a lower-cost interceptor and other enhancements.
The effort expands the effectiveness of a system that has recorded more than 400 intercepts since being fielded in Ukraine, says Luke Webster, MBDA business development manager in the UK for Asraam. The launcher now also sports a more capable electro-optical/infrared sensor and moving turret.
The Counter Mass Interceptor (CMI) has a 122-mm (4.8-in.) diameter and length of around 2.3 m (7.5 ft.). It sports a blast frag warhead and fixed field-of-view, low-wave infrared sensor.
The larger diameter gives the CMI greater performance than many other counter-drone interceptors, Webster says. The missile, which weighs around 53 kg (117 lb.), can intercept targets at more than 6 km (3.7 mi).
Both interceptors lock on to their target before launch.
Adding CMI to the surface-launched Asraam system allows users to engage lower-end targets such as drones, some basic helicopters that lack countermeasures and cruise missiles.
MBDA last year decided to transform the project—which for a long time was run as a quick-reaction effort to aid Ukraine—into a formal program, pursuing upgrades to help drive further demand domestically and abroad.
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