During an international press event at its Schrobenhausen facility in Bavaria, MBDA Germany officials confirmed that the Enforcer missile system is due to enter full-scale production for the Bundeswehr before the end of the year.

Initially, the Bundeswehr awarded the company a contract for the acquisition for some of these fire-and-forget missile systems in December 2019 to fulfil the procurement agency’s requirement for a lightweight, precision-guided, shoulder-launched weapon system with an effective range of more than 1,800 metres.

Currently, the Enforcer operates within the first capability field – meaning that the system is primarily used as an anti-drone missile system.

Features of the Enforcer missile system

MBDA’s head of sales and business development campaigns and international business, Michael Reider, revealed that the company had successfully executed a customer demonstration.

The whole Enforcer system – including the munition, launch tube and sight – weighs less than 12kg.

The modular design of the Enforcer system allowed for the integration of an alternative fire control sight (FCS14), a direct view optic manufactured by the Swedish supplier Aimpoint, as part of the demonstration.

In addition, the Enforcer missile itself has a diameter of 89mm and weighs less than 7kg.

The missile makes use of a correlation tracker to follow stationary or static targets. In this way, the missile employs two sensors – infrared (IR) and TV – in pursuit of its target.

Adaption, not invention

Now that the programme is due to enter full-scale production, the milestone also marks the company’s ambition to set-up an Enforcer family of systems by adapting the weapon to meet air and sea applications as well as land.

As part of its adaption approach, MBDA confirmed that it has successfully completed flight tests for an air-launched version but have yet to develop the product.

Likewise, the company has also come up with an anti-tank concept that is designated the ‘Enforcer X’, which is currently under development according to Jochen Dehner, the company’s head of sales and marketing.

Speaking to Army Technology, MBDA Germany’s Managing Director Thomas Gottschild emphasised the company’s adaption and development approach to its systems, pointing that the company is “filling the gaps in [the Bundeswehr], not so much on new capabilities.”

In that spirit, the company’s director of future systems, Dr Dirk Zimper, added that “innovation is where the capability [is already] there. If it’s a new idea, it’s just an invention.”