Oman successfully fires first VL MICA air defence missile
European defence manufacturer MBDA confirmed today that the Royal Guard of Oman (RGO) has successfully carried out the first operational firing of a VL MICA missile.
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The company said that the firing, using the RGO’s own VL MICA Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) system, took place at the Abeer test range located in the centre of the Sultanate of Oman in the presence of the highest political and military authorities in Oman six weeks ago.
Today was the first time they had confirmed that the event took place.
In a statement, MBDA said that all aspects of the firing exercise, which included the detection, interception and destruction of an ATARID target flying at more than 14 km range from the VL MICA missile launcher, were completely successful.
For the test firing, an operational VL MICA missile equipped with an RF seeker was used.
The VL MICA GBAD system, delivered to the RGO by MBDA and operating in stand-alone mode under the control of its own Tactical Operation Centre, detected the target with its 3D radar (TRML3D supplied by EADS Cassidian).
This operational exercise saw the 19th successful firing of a VL MICA missile. VL MICA has not had a single firing failure since the beginning of its development trials in 2003. Significantly, the RGO firing marked the first ever operational use of the land-based VL MICA system by an export customer.
PICTURED: The first live firing of the missile in Oman - (c) MBDA
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