To meet this requirement, MBDA has used a patented design known as stepped diameters giving the bomb body a similar shape to that of a bottle. At the front end the diameter is smaller but the thickness of the metal is increased, a profile that facilitates the penetration of the body at the rear with its larger diameter but reduced metal thickness and thereby maximises the explosive blast and fragmentation effects. Additionally, this bottle-shaped profile has also been fitted with an array of “teeth” at the front end, partly to avoid gliding at the point of contact even at high angles of incidence and partly to crack the concrete to facilitate the passage of the bomb body.

MBDA’s advanced mastery of bomb body technology has been evidenced by the Company’s ability to validate the concept at the first test, carried out during December 2008 at the CESTA range facility near Bordeaux (Centre d’Etudes Scientifiques et Techniques d’Aquitaine, a facility belonging to the French Atomic Energy Commission). This concluded the development phase of the programme, a phase which took only six months from requirement definition.

 

Encased in a fissile casing, the bomb body becomes the CMP 1000 (1,000 kg class Charge Militaire de Pénétration) replicating the shape and balance of a standard NATO 2,000 lb Mk-84 bomb body. Consequently, the CMP 1000 can be directly integrated onto numerous aircraft already qualified to carry the Mk-84 bomb.

“To develop within six months a bomb body capable of meeting so many demands that were placed on CMP 1000 is only possible if one has an excellent mastery of the necessary technology. It is an additional proof of MBDA’s commitment to mastering the full spectrum of technologies which converge in the optimisation of a complete missile system. This is this commitment which has maintained the group’s position as a global player in the missile sector since its formation in 2001”, stated Antoine Bouvier, CEO of MBDA.

 

CMP 1000’s interface with the AASM guidance kit is equally part of the concept. This is in keeping with the joint development partnership for future versions of AASM outlined in an agreement signed between MBDA France and Sagem (part of the Safran group).