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The Emirate of Qatar sits in the middle of the Persian Gulf, a shallow and narrow body of water that lends itself to fast, small, missile armed ships and boats. Qatar’s Navy relies on 7 French and British 400t-500t Fast Attack Craft, and MBDA’s Exocet missile is their anti-ship weapon of choice. MBDA has just announced that the Qatar Emiri Navy’s 4 Vosper Thorneycroft Vita Class FACs will now be equipped with the new Exocet MM40 Block 3 missiles, under a recent batch buy.
The Block 3 replaces rocket fuel with turbojet propulsion, extending the missile’s range; and adds GPS-like targeting. That kind of geographic targeting is especially useful in cluttered near-shore zones, minimizing the odds of false lock-ons before the missile gets close to its target. The first operational firing of the MM40 Block 3 from a naval warship took place in France on March 18/10, from the Horizon Class advanced air defense frigate Chevalier Paul. MBDA release | French DGA re: test [in French].