Thanks to @_OceanFish I did a deep-dive on two lengthy sources on the Stratus missiles, which I will link below. One is from the House of Commons (UK) and the other is from the Assemblee Nationale (FR). These two sources were the most interesting sources I could find on the FC/ASW and I’ll summarize the interesting parts. Note that FC/ASW is the English designation of the Stratus programme while the French designation of the program is FMAN/FMC. But I will call it Stratus as that is what MBDA refers to it as.
Just for reference, there is two FC/ASW missiles. For simplicity, one will be called Stratus-LO and the other will be called Stratus-RS. Stratus-LO focuses on low-observability at subsonic speeds. Stratus-RS focuses on supersonic speeds and high maneuverability. LO = Low-Observability, RS = Rapid-Strike.
Stratus program is intended to replace the Harpoon, Exocet, and SCALP/Storm-Shadow which will be deemed unable to respond to threats by 2030.
Regularly stated that 2030 is the latest that the missiles are intended to enter service.
The UK and French despite co-developing on this program have diverged on two different possible solutions on the same problem. The problem is how to sufficiently penetrate enemy air defenses and survive in order to reach further in-land to a high value target. The UK settled on subsonic and stealth while the French settled on supersonic and maneuverable.
The Exocet is regarded as soon outdated in terms of range, maneuverability, and speed. This would mean that for the French the Stratus-LO is considered inefficient (due to being subsonic as well) and that the Stratus-RS is what’s intended to replace the Exocet as the Stratus-RS is supersonic and highly maneuverable.
Priority for the French is to deploy Stratus missiles on the Rafales first before ships.
The two missiles Stratus-LO/RS are intended to be sold to other European countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.
The supersonic missile will not by hypersonic as there is limitations in terms of tracking targets at that speed.
Stratus missiles intended to have two-way datalink.
Preliminary study (2011-2014), concept study (2017-2020), design phase (2020-2024), and development/production phase (2024-2030).
Possibility of up to 1,000km in range.
Despite vastly different solutions to the same problem, both of the missiles will have commonalities that will reduce the costs of the program. Not known what the commonalities are.
I forgot to mention that part, and will include it, yes it has commonalities which significantly reduces the costs of both missiles but it isn’t known what exactly those commonalities are, atleast not from the two sources I linked.
Yeah I’d assume seeker, warhead, datalink, and several other parts. The Brits also intend to make the Stratus-LO compatible with the F-35 as well. It’s already a big boy so it would be interesting to see how it fits within the bay.
But otherwise i don’t think the LO is inefficient in every scenario, i remember that the conclusion of wanting more a missile like RS compared to LO is because there were test at the marine nationale level, and overall you are better with a really fast misssile to reach a sea target than one which is subsonic.
So for France LO is fine in a SEAD context but against ship it is not enough.
I would agree, I should say insufficient to the French’s specific design requirements. The Stratus-LO is just a different way of accomplishing the same goal for the Brits and they placed their bets that stealth wins out more than supersonic, only in actual wars will time tell and hopefully we never get to that point.
Apparently the Americans went with the LO route instead of supersonic, so the Brits aren’t the only ones that made that conclusion, it’s possible the Brits conducted studies and tests of their own and got to their separate conclusion as well.
Considering SCALP already uses both guidances (radar for terrain mapping, IR for terminal guidance), it’s possible that the 2 missiles use multiple guidance systems with some commonality. Especially if they are to be used against moving target (like a boat) at ranges greater than a few dozen kilometers
Interestingly, RBE2-AA on Rafale F4.2 goes up to 14kW peak power because GaN is incorporated. Unfortunately radar power is not bug-reportable, and average power is probably far more useful as well than peak power.
