PARIS \u2014 France has started exclusive negotiations with French defense firm Safran and missile maker MBDA to supply domestically produced rocket artillery as well as munitions, Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin announced at the Eurosatory defense show near Paris on Monday.<\/p>\n
France snubbed a competing offer for a multiple-rocket launcher from a team of Thales and ArianeGroup as well as options from Lockheed Martin with HIMARS and Hanwha Aerospace\u2019s Chunmoo launcher, with Vautrin noting that the country retained a sovereign solution.<\/p>\n
French Army staff have been clamoring for a successor to its few remaining and aging M270-based LRU launchers, with deep strike deemed one of the ground service\u2019s biggest capability gaps as the country prepares for high-intensity warfare. The government had said it would decide based on the best combination of delivery times, capability, affordability as well as sovereignty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are currently in exclusive negotiations with a sovereign consortium of Safran and MBDA,\u201d Vautrin said. \u201cI would like to take the opportunity here to thank all the competitors for the high quality of the different proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Europe currently doesn\u2019t produce modern, independently developed multiple-rocket artillery systems at scale, instead relying on systems from the United States, South Korea and Israel. France has been looking at the two domestic offers as well as off-the-shelf solutions, Vautrin said in April.<\/p>\n
Rocket artillery is \u201cessential\u201d for France\u2019s move towards a war-ready division in 2027 and war-ready army corps in 2030, Gen. Philippe de Montenon, the commander of the French land forces and operations, said in a briefing with reporters at Eurosatory on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need them, of course, as soon as possible,\u201d de Montenon said. \u201cThe Army clearly recognizes the need to have an initial capability as early as 2030 to replace the single-use rocket launchers. This is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n