European defense firm unveils game-changing low-cost missile to transform high-intensity warfare

European defense firm MBDA has introduced an innovative, low-cost, long-range missile designed to reshape high-intensity warfare. 

European missile manufacturer MBDA has unveiled a new low-cost, long-range, one-way “effector” aimed at high-intensity warfare, revealing plans to produce 1,000 units per month at the Paris Air Show, Caliber.Az reports via Breaking Defense.

Developed with internal R\&D funding since December 2024, the missile carries a 40kg warhead, is powered by a jet engine, and can reach targets up to 500 kilometers away. The initiative aims to meet France’s growing demand for increased combat mass.

“We are waiting for French MoD consultation on the subject,” Hugo Coqueret, MBDA’s business development manager for the battlefield domain, told reporters at Le Bourget. “We will be waiting for the specific requirements of the French DGA \[France’s defense procurement agency] but we’ve already had some talks with the French armed forces to make sure that this missile is perfectly fitted for the mission.”

A first test demonstration of the system — essentially a one-way drone — is scheduled for “autumn” 2025, with production of a “first batch” targeted by 2027. “It is a very quick development \[schedule], we are not waiting for anything,” Coqueret said.

To reach its ambitious production goals, MBDA plans to collaborate with an undisclosed automotive manufacturer. “It’s still a partnership that needs to be thought through at the beginning, because the ammunition needs to be built and engineered in a way that will be produced on the factory lines of the automotive industry,” Coqueret explained.

Meeting the monthly production target will allow the armed forces “to receive lots at a reduced cost and be able to use plenty of them… to saturate enemy air defenses,” he added.

Highlighting recent conflicts, Coqueret noted, “What we’ve seen in Ukraine, what we’ve seen in the Middle East, it’s somewhat new and I think we are the first in France to be able to present such” a solution. The effector’s airframe manufacturer also has prior experience delivering systems to Ukraine.

MBDA described the effector as “a new attrition proposition based on feedback from the armed forces, particularly from the conflict in Ukraine.”

Operationally, Coqueret explained, “We will be launching lots of them, and the \[enemy] air defense will be targeting them… \[so] reducing the stock of air defense ammunition.”

The effector can be launched from either a ramp or an “integrated hangar” and operates effectively in GNSS-denied environments, he added.

By Naila Huseynova