Thales, Aselsan to continue MLS development

Thales and Aselsan have signed a cooperation agreement to continue the joint development of a Missile Launcher System (MLS).

The under-development MLS incorporates Aselsan's own MLS and Thales' Lightweight Multi-role Missiles (LMM). The two began joint development in 2010, with the first-stage firings of the integrated MLS and LMM demonstrated in 2014.

This new agreement covers further firing demonstrations, initially in the naval domain. It also covers further cooperation between Thales and Aselsan in other areas.

The Thales LMM is a lightweight precision strike missile that can be fired from various tactical platforms, including helicopters, UAVs, tracked or wheeled vehicles and naval platforms. It can attack surface threates such as UAVs, fast in-shore attack crafts, asymmetric threats, armoured personnel carriers and static installations.

The Aselsan MLS is a customised lightweight and compact system for ships, fast patrol boats and other naval platforms. It can defend critical infrastructure such as naval bases, sea ports and oil rigs from various air and surface threats.

The LMM MLS can be fully integrated in a combat management system or used autonomously. It has 4/8 ready-to-fire Thales LMMs, two-axis gyro-stabilised turret, automatic target tracking with an independent stabilised EO suite, laser range finding and more.

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LMM