Air-sol moyenne portée
The air-sol moyenne portée (ASMP; "medium-range air to surface missile") is a French nuclear air-launched cruise missile manufactured by MBDA France. In French nuclear doctrine, it is referred to as a "pre-strategic" weapon, the last-resort "warning shot" prior to a full-scale employment of strategic nuclear weapons launched from the Triomphant-class ballistic missile submarines. The missile's development was undertaken by Aérospatiale's Tactical Missile Division, now part of MBDA.
ASMP
Medium-range supersonic stand-off nuclear missile
France
May 1986–present[1]
860 kg (1,900 lb)[2]
5.38 m (17.7 ft)
380 mm (15 in)
TN 81 nuclear warhead, variable yield 100 to 300 kilotons of TNT (420 to 1,260 TJ)
liquid-fuel ramjet
300 km (190 mi) 600 km (370 mi) for ASMP-A version)[3]
up to Mach 3[4]
Mach 4-8 (ASN4G)
- Dassault Rafale
- Dassault Mirage IV (retired)
- Dassault Mirage 2000N (retired)
- Dassault Super Étendard (retired)
The ASMP entered service in May 1986. The development of an upgraded version, the ASMP-A, was launched in 1997 and the missile entered service in 2009. In 2016, yet another modernization program, the ASMPA-R, was launched. The first firing test of the ASMPA-R took place in December 2021 and the second in March 2022.
The ASN4G air-launched hypersonic cruise missile under development as of 2023 is expected to replace the ASMP in the pre-strategic nuclear deterrence role from 2035 onwards.
Development[edit]
ASMP[edit]
ASMP entered service in May 1986, replacing the earlier free-fall AN-22 bomb on France's Dassault Mirage IV aircraft and the AN-52 bomb on Dassault Super Étendard. About 84 weapons are stockpiled. Carrier aircraft are the Dassault Mirage 2000N, Dassault Rafale and Super Étendard. The Mirage IVP carried the ASMP until retired in 1996.
ASMP and ASMP-A are 5.38 metres (17.7 ft) long and weigh 860 kilograms (1,900 lb). It is a supersonic standoff missile powered by a liquid fuel ramjet.[5] It flies at Mach 2 to Mach 3, with a range between 80 and 300 kilometres (50 and 190 mi) for the ASMP and 500 kilometres (310 mi) for the ASMP-A depending on flight profile.
The ASMP uses the TN 81 warhead, which has a variable-yield of 100 to 300 kilotons of TNT (420 to 1,260 TJ).
In 1991, 90 missiles and 80 warheads were reported to have been produced. By 2001, 60 of them were reported as operational.[6]
ASMP-A[edit]
An upgraded version known as Air-Sol Moyenne Portée-Amélioré ASMP-A (improved ASMP) has a range of about 500 kilometres (310 mi)[7] at a speed of up to Mach 3 with the new Tête Nucléaire Aéroportée (TNA) 300 kt thermonuclear warhead.[8] It entered service in October 2009 with the Mirage 2000NK3 of squadron EC 3/4 at Istres and in July 2010 with the Rafales of squadron EC 1/91 at Saint Dizier.[9] 54 ASMP-A have been delivered to French Air and Space Force.[10]
Successor[edit]
The studies for the successor to the ASMP missile, dubbed as ASN4G (Air-Sol Nucléaire de 4ème Génération), a scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile[12][13] have already begun.[14] The aim is to design a missile capable of either high supersonic (Mach 4–5) or hypersonic flight (Mach 7–8).[15][16]
The ASN4G could be carried by the Rafale fighter jet and the requirement is for a missile range much greater than 1,000 kilometres (600 mi).[17][18][19]
ASN4G is being developed and will be manufactured by ArianeGroup.[20]