Thales Carries Out First Successful Vertical Firing of VT1 Naval Crotale Missile

Released on Monday, October 27, 2008

Thales successfully completed the firing of a VT1 missile from a DNCS SYLVER� A35 vertical launcher.

This first vertical firing of Naval Crotale system, led by a joint Thales-DCNS team, took place at the French Procurement Agency's Firing Range at Biscarrosse.

The new technical features of the VT1-VL naval Crotale were clearly demonstrated with this firing: ejection of the VT1 missile from SYLVER launcher, vertical take-off as well as the tip-off according to the controlled trajectory.

Following the successful completion of these steps and more than 300 successful VT1 flights in different locations around the world, the potential of VT1-VL Naval Crotale has now been confirmed. This firing, which was achieved at the first attempt, clearly shows that Thales has reached an important milestone in the development of the VT1-VL Naval Crotale. The successful firing is also a demonstration of the excellent cooperation that exists between the joint Thales-DCNS team.