MBDA and Safran have taken the wraps off THUNDART, a 150-kilometer (93-mile) guided rocket system meant to succeed France’s aging Lance-Roquette Unitaire (LRU) launchers.
The companies presented the weapon as a practical, ready-to-test solution rather than a far-off concept, part of a push to modernize the country’s long-range fires capability.
The weapon pairs MBDA’s mass-production experience with Safran’s guidance know-how drawn from the AASM family of French precision-guided air-to-ground munitions.
Demonstration firings are scheduled for mid-2026, with operational capability targeted well before 2030.
The system will be fully sovereign and free from US exports restrictions, with production lines already identified inside France to keep control of manufacture and exports.
What It Brings
France currently fields just nine LRUs that reach roughly 70 kilometers (43.5 kilometers), a shortfall THUNDART is designed to erase by roughly doubling strike depth.
But beyond range, the design promises increased firepower, better saturation options, off-road mobility, and resilience across extreme temperatures.
The weapon will be able to hit fixed and moving targets and is planned to plug into the French Army’s digital fires network, including the ATLAS fire-control system.
MBDA and Safran said the system is built on proven technology, using existing production methods and guidance kits rather than untested experimental designs.
If mid-2026 trials go well, THUNDART could give France a homegrown deep-strike option without relying on foreign components.
