The French Defence Procurement Agency, the DGA, notified the two companies of the decision. THUNDART will provide precision strikes at long range in high-intensity conflicts and heavily contested environments.
The system will be designed, developed and produced in France. It is expected to give the French Armed Forces full autonomy over its use by 2030.
The decision follows an initial development phase led by MBDA and Safran Electronics & Defense. That work resulted in a successful demonstration firing in April 2026.
The companies will now establish a 50/50 joint venture in the Paris region. It will manage THUNDART’s development, production and in-service support.
The venture will also oversee future upgrades to the system. These will include potential adaptations for other operational environments and allied export markets.
“This selection reflects the complementarity of our expertise with MBDA,” said Alexandre Ziegler, head of the Defense Global Business Unit at Safran Electronics & Defense. “THUNDART will provide our armed forces with a decisive and sovereign tactical advantage.”
Safran will contribute its inertial navigation and optronics technologies to the programme. These capabilities are intended to maintain accuracy when GNSS signals are disrupted or unavailable.
“The notification of the THUNDART programme marks a decisive step for French sovereignty in terms of long-range land strikes,” said Stéphane Reb, executive vice-president for programmes and managing director of MBDA France. He said the programme would use mature subsystems and production capacity that was already being expanded.
Several dozen engineers are already working on THUNDART. The programme will support engineering and production jobs at company sites and subcontractors across France.
The industrial work will cover Aquitaine, Brittany and Centre-Val de Loire. It will also involve sites in Île-de-France, Pays de la Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
