Scalp EG Integration on Rafale Completed

Released on Friday, December 17, 2004

On third December 2004, a French Navy Rafale M combat aircraft, named MO2, conducted the last firing of Scalp EG long-range cruise missile after taking off from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. The test firing was successful achieving all the test objectives as expected.

The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. After the took-off, the Rafale M headed for the firing zone located in the Gulf of Gascogny in the Atlantic Ocean. The Scalp EG missile, dubbed Storm Shadow by the British armed forces, was attached to the aircraft center line station. At an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) and at a speed of Mach 0.8, the missile was released following its pre-programmed flight trajectory over the sea and land areas of the CELM (Centre d'Essais des Landes/ Landes Testing Range) testing range towards its designated target.

During the cruise phase of flight, the Scalp EG missile was guided by its built-in navigation system combining inertial guidance, GPS and infrared imaging terrain profile matching. It hit the intended target with extreme precision. According to MBDA, the difference between the intended and the actual impact points was lower than one meter, which stands below the specified accuracy for the missile system.

The Scalp EG/Storm Shadow missile program involves close cooperation between the French Navy and Air Force, the French DGA and the Royal Air Force (RAF). This test marks the end of the integration work on the Rafale's weapon system. This year MBDA has performed test firings using Rafale and Mirage 2000 airborne platforms involving six Scalp EG missiles and one Apache missile

To date, Storm Shadow/Scalp EG has been qualified on Tornado Gr4, Mirage 2000 and Rafale. The missile is in full rate production with over 600 missiles having already been delivered to end customers. UK, France, Italy and Greece have chosen it as well as United Arab Emirates, its Storm Shadows are referred to as Black Shaheen.