On Thursday, 23 October 2025, the European consortium MBDA and the French company Safran Electronics & Defense unveiled the new Thundart multiple rocket launcher, offered to the French Army (Armée de terre) under the FLP-T (Feux Longue Portée-Terre) program as a successor to the LRU (Lance-Roquettes Unitaire), the French designation for the M270A1 MLRS.
Photo: MBDA
France’s Directorate General of Armaments (Direction générale de l’Armement, DGA), part of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, launched the FLP-T program in 2023 with an initial budget of 600 million EUR. The French Army currently operates nine LRU launchers, as two were transferred to Ukraine (earlier reports mentioned 13 units, and originally France possessed 57 LRUs). According to current plans, the new system is to be acquired by 2030, although it is no secret that LRU withdrawal will begin as early as late 2027. For this reason, MBDA and Safran plan to conduct the first live-fire trials of the Thundart prototype as early as mid-2026.
As MBDA highlights in its press release, Thundart is a maturity-based solution: a next-generation artillery system built primarily around a new land-attack rocket with a range of 150 km, first unveiled at Eurosatory 2024 in Paris (for comparison, the LRU can strike targets at up to 70 km).
MBDA, Europe’s leading designer and integrator of missile systems, brings extensive expertise in long-range deep-strike land systems and the capacity for mass production of munitions of this class. Safran Electronics & Defense contributes its robust experience from developing the AASM Hammer family of modular precision-guided bombs, enabling it to offer a highly similar suite of guidance components for the Thundart system’s munitions.
Both the French Armed Forces (État-major des armées) and MBDA/Safran have drawn lessons from the war in Ukraine, where rocket artillery has been employed on a massive scale (with unmanned systems beginning to dominate in the current phase of the conflict). The two companies have been cooperating since 2024 to submit an offer for the FLP-T program.
The companies first presented Thundart (at that time referring specifically to the rocket) in June 2024 at Eurosatory under the slogan “Sovereignty.” They emphasized that the weapon system is 100% French and free from ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) export restrictions. The companies retain full control over future development as well as production, which will be located entirely in France (with preliminary site selections already made in the Centre–Val de Loire region).
According to the released image, Thundart will be a heavy launcher, similar in concept to the LRU, with two launcher pods, an armored cabin, and a wheeled chassis with four axles rather than tracked mobility. Competing offers include the Foudre launcher, revealed at this year’s Paris Air Show by ETI Turgis & Gaillard and described as a “French HIMARS” due to its general configuration: a single launcher pod on a lighter Renault Kerax 6×6 chassis. The third competitor in the FLP-T program is the Thales–ArianeGroup consortium.
It is also worth noting that MBDA is working on the LCM (Land Cruise Missile), a ground-launched version of the NCM offered under the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA) program, in which Poland also participates.
THUNDART : une solution souveraine au service des forces armées.
🛡️ Précision, portée, mobilité.
🤝 Développée par MBDA & @SafranElecDef, elle garantit supériorité opérationnelle et autonomie stratégique.#Souveraineté #Innovation #Défense #THUNDART pic.twitter.com/H8IuGFr5Jm— MBDA France (@MBDAFrance) October 23, 2025