Stratus (missile family)
stealth cruise missile
Stratus, formerly known as the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) or FMAN/FMC in French (Futur Missile Anti-Navire/Futur Missile de Croisière), is a multi-national next generation missile programme launched by France and the United Kingdom in 2017 to succeed their jointly-developed Storm Shadow/SCALP as well as their respective Exocet and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, with Italy in the process of joining as of June 2023. The programme has previously been referred to as the Future Offensive Surface Weapon (FOSW) by the Royal Navy and SPEAR 5 by the Royal Air Force. The Stratus family comprises two missiles, Stratus LO (Low Observable) and Stratus RS (Rapid Strike).
In 2017, an agreement for the launch of a concept phase was signed between the two initial partners and, in March 2019, MBDA announced the key review of the programme was successfully completed in cooperation with the French Directorate General of Armament (DGA) and the British Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).
On 18 February 2022, an agreement and associated contracts signed by the head of the DGA, his British counterpart and the CEO of MBDA confirmed the launch of the preparation works for the FC/ASW. By 2022, the programme was examining two different missile concepts; with the discontinuation of a hypersonic solution similar to the CVS401 Perseus which was an early hypersonic missile concept study from MBDA with input from both France and the UK. By 2024, these two concepts had evolved into two distinct but complementary weapon systems; a low observable subsonic cruise missile and a supersonic highly manoeuvrable missile.
Equally funded by both the UK and France with the workload evenly split, the project is led by MBDA and is a product of the close defence relationship set out between the two nations by the Lancaster House treaties. In June 2023, it was announced Italy would join the programme; a restructuring of the workshare to reflect this new development is expected to take place.
The latest timeline for the programme is that the assessment phase will be completed in 2024 and would move to the manufacturing phase from 2025 to 2035.
Development
Early concept study (CVS401 Perseus)
Unveiled in 2011 at the Salon du Bourget in Paris, Perseus or CVS401 Perseus (named after the Greek hero Perseus) was a concept study undertaken by MBDA for a stealth hypersonic cruise missile designed in consultation with the Marine Nationale and Royal Navy; a team of ten engineers worked on the design for six months.
The Perseus was to be approximately five metres (16 ft) in length, had a weight of around 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) and be powered by a ramjet motor.
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