PARIS — France plans to test a domestically-developed rocket artillery system by mid-2026 as an alternative to the U.S. High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, a move that could open up options for allies seeking a European capability.

The French Directorate General for Armament is looking to identify the technical solutions that will enable a demonstration firing in a year’s time, the defense-procurement agency told Defense News in a written reply to questions.

The DGA is working with a consortium of Safran and MBDA and another of Thales and ArianeGroup to develop a tactical strike capability in the 150 kilometer (93 mile) range.

Time is running out for France to replace its Lance-Roquettes Unitaire, a modified version of the M270 multiple launch rocket system, with the Army’s nine remaining systems set to reach the end of their service life in 2027.

Lawmakers and military brass have been pushing to develop a domestic option rather than buy abroad, in line with French policy for autonomy in defense matters.

“Service withdrawal of the LRU is approaching, and retention of the capability will be an issue at that point,”said Léo Péria-Peigné, a researcher at the Paris-based Institut Français des Relations Internationales specializing in armament capacity.

“The urgency is relative – we have hardly ever used this capacity in the past 30 years.”

Safran and MBDA are on track for the “ambitious” DGA schedule, confirming their target for a test firing in mid-2026, they said in a joint statement to Defense News. Thales and ArianeGroup didn’t comment on timing, with Thales saying the companies have been working as an integrated team for several months to offer a “pertinent solution” for the armed forces.

France’s 2024-2030 defense spending plan has budgeted €600 million ($663 million) for the rocket-artillery program, called Frappe Longue Portée Terrestre or FLP-T for short, with a goal of buying at least 13 systems by 2030 and 26 systems to equip a battalion by 2035.

The schedule to replace the LRU “is proceeding nominally” and within the timetable set by the defense spending law, according to the DGA.

Meanwhile, there’s still the option of a foreign purchase if things end up taking to long. That decision is on the calendar for next year, the directorate said.

German rocket artillery pick tests the waters on US arms dependence

The long-range tactical strike capability is “essential” and a niche that needs to be filled, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill told lawmakers in an October hearing, noting that many other European countries have a rocket artillery capability.

Europe lacks a home-made HIMARS equivalent, and European armies shopping for rocket artillery in recent years either picked the U.S. option, the PULS launcher by Israel’s Elbit Systems, or Hanwha Aerospace’s Chunmoo.

Elbit is working with KNDS on a Europeanized version of PULS, while Germany’s Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin in 2023 joined forces to develop the GMARS system.

Other than France, European countries still in the market for rocket artillery include Sweden and Norway. The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Spain already picked PULS, Poland acquired Chunmoo and HIMARS, while the Baltic countries, Romania and Italy are HIMARS customers. Meanwhile, the U.K. is considering expanding its fleet of M270 multiple launch rocket systems.

That leaves a narrow commercial window for French-developed rocket artillery, though a push by the European Union’s executive arm for member states to spend more of their defense budgets within the 27-nation bloc may provide a tailwind for a European solution.

Safran and MBDA said their rocket-artillery system, dubbed Thundart, is based on “mature and mastered subsystems,” and an initial operational capability could be produced before 2030.

In the already saturated marketplace, “there will be no export market for a French system that will not be ready before 2030,” said Péria-Peigné.

The DGA signed innovation partnerships with the two consortiums in November, providing a first round of financing for the FLP-T program. The partnership contract allows the procurement office to buy the system at the end of the development phase without a new competitive tender, provided the armament meets performance requirements.

The innovation partnership includes a “significant degree of self-financing” by industry, Safran Electronics & Defense CEO Franck Saudo said in a parliamentary hearing in November.

Each consortium will carry out a firing of its demonstrator, after which the French government will make a choice, the DGA said. At the end of the current 18-month contracts, the consortiums will submit a proposal that will allow the government to choose between various solutions, including off-the-shelf equipment, according to the directorate.

DGA head Emmanuel Chiva had told the Sénat foreign affairs committee in November that if the industrial partners would “work well,” the first orders might be placed in late 2025 or early 2026. That now appears to have been pushed back by several months.

Safran and MBDA said the geopolitical context and changing artillery requirements reinforce the interest of a sovereign solution for France in particular, but also for other European countries, with Thundart the only rocket artillery system designed and built in Europe, free of U.S. arms-trade restrictions, and with independent manufacturing that provides control over the production pace.

The companies started working together on designing the new system at the end of 2023, and presented a mock-up of their Thundart 227 mm long-range guided-artillery rocket at the Eurosatory defense show in June 2024, as a first step in the FLP-T program. The rocket has 150-kilometer accuracy, according to Matthieu Krouri, MBDA’s head of land combat systems.

MBDA has production capacity adapted to the size of the tactical munitions required in France’s Centre-Val de Loire region, where final assembly will take place, the companies said. For its part, Safran has “strongly” increased production of AASM Hammer guided bombs, which have a guidance kit “very similar” to that of the Thundart munition, according to the consortium.

“Safran and MBDA are convinced of the relevance of this solution and have already invested heavily in this project,” the companies said. “The collaboration between Safran and MBDA on Thundart is a long-term project, which is already well advanced.”

Meanwhile, Thales and ArianeGroup teams are “fully mobilized” to propose a sovereign fire-support system that can deal with high-value targets, either surface or point targets, Thales said, without providing further details.

The new system will replace nine M270s on a Bradley tracked chassis, one of the rare pieces of U.S.-origin combat equipment still serving with the French Army, whose force is built around French-developed and manufactured tanks, armored vehicles and tube artillery.

Replacing the decades-old LRU is a priority for the army, according to the 2025 defense budget, with a sovereign solution preferred as long as it can be achieved rapidly and with controlled costs.

Army engineers may be able extend the lifespan of the LRU by another two to three years, but not much longer, according to Péria-Peigné at IFRI.

The goal of a sovereign solution had “not been abandoned,” French Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Thierry Burkhard told a National Assembly hearing in October.

Chiva said in November the LRU replacement “must be sovereign, and we are working towards this,” with the project taking some time due to the need to define Army requirements and “a certain confusion” in the requests.

The urgency of the capacity requirement may dictate having to turn to a foreign system after all, National Assembly special budget rapporteur Christophe Plassard said in October.

At the same time, HIMARS may not be a solution, as stress on production lines means delivery of the U.S system might not be possibly starting in 2027, the National Assembly’s defense committee wrote in an evaluation of the 2025 defense budget published in October.

“There is internal tension between supporters of the off-the-shelf solution and those in favor of national development,” Péria-Peigné said.

The military planning law calls for a system that could have a longer range than the LRU, in particular by allowing integration of hypersonic missiles with a range of several hundreds of kilometers. The DGA has asked both consortiums to study the cost and feasibility of including a future operational capability for strikes at ranges of 500 kilometers and 1,000 kilometers.

The rocket-artillery project is separate from the European Long-range Strike Approach, which concerns strikes at a distance of several thousands of kilometers, Burkhard said in November. Still, the envisaged future development of the FLP-T project has “strong adherence” with ELSA, according to the DGA.

Development of a long-range land-based strike capability beyond 1,000 kilometers is less urgent, with systems not expected until the 2030-2035 time frame, according a supplement to the 2025 defense budget discussing preparation for the future. Studies on strategic long-range strike were ongoing based on solutions proposed by ArianeGroup and MBDA, according to the October report.

MBDA has proposed its Land Cruise Missile, a land-based version of its company’s Missile de Croisière Naval, as a short-term solution for ELSA.