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Robert Wall
September 09, 2025
MBDA’s stealthy subsonic Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon design, on display at DSEI 2025 in London. Credit: Robert Wall/Aviation Week Network
STEVENAGE, England—After the Paris Air show provided the backdrop for MBDA to showcase the final design of a future supersonic cruise missile, the company used the DSEI 2025 defense expo in London to display the stealthy, subsonic element of the Franco-British program.
The shape, which differs markedly from what MBDA has previously shown, reflects design iterations since the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) program was launched several years ago. The missile now evokes the shape of MBDA’s Storm Shadow cruise missile, though an MBDA program representative said that at the detail level, there are substantial differences.
Despite a recent focus among Western military officials on mass and low-cost systems, the MBDA official said, “We still very much see the need, as we look to the threats that will exist from the early 2030s out into the middle of this century, that there will be the need for high-end day-one-type capabilities.”
The two weapons being developed under the FC/ASW program in part reflect an inability among participants—who are soon due to include Italy among their numbers—to agree on a single set of requirements, with the French Navy in particular keen on a supersonic system. MBDA says the two systems would be complementary and interoperable. Both systems are designed to be air and naval vessel launched, with a development path for ground launch if customers request that version.
Following the conclusion of the assessment stage, France and the UK this year committed to kicking off the next phase of the program. Discussions are now underway to move that phase forward. The missiles are due to enter service in the early 2030s.
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