French Warship Makes World First Interception of Air-Launched Guided Bomb Using Aster 30 Missile

In a historic milestone for naval defense, the French Navy confirmed that its Horizon-class air-defense frigate Forbin successfully intercepted a guided bomb launched from a Rafale Marine fighter aircraft using an Aster 30 surface-to-air missile. The announcement, made on October 17, 2025, marks the first-ever real-world demonstration of a warship neutralizing an air-launched precision weapon before impact.

The intercepted munition was a live AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire) bomb, a highly accurate, modular air-to-ground weapon capable of striking targets at long ranges. The Forbin, equipped with the MBDA Aster 30 missile system and the SAMPSON multi-function radar, detected, tracked, and destroyed the incoming bomb.

The Aster 30 missile system is a long-range, high-speed, radar-guided interceptor capable of engaging a wide variety of aerial threats, including aircraft, cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and precision-guided munitions. With its active radar seeker and vertical launch capability, Aster 30 can perform rapid, agile maneuvers to intercept targets at ranges up to 120 km and altitudes exceeding 20 km, making it a cornerstone of modern naval air defense.

French defense officials highlighted the strategic significance of this event. Unlike previous demonstrations focused on drones or missiles, this test involved a live, air-launched guided bomb, simulating one of the most complex threats faced by modern navies. The successful interception proves that multi-layered naval defense systems, when integrated with advanced sensors and missiles like the Aster 30, can neutralize precision weapons well before they reach their target, enhancing the survivability of high-value ships in combat zones.

The Forbin’s achievement represents both a technical breakthrough and a major morale boost for European naval defense. It demonstrates that European navies are capable of countering next-generation aerial threats, including guided bombs, loitering munitions, and potentially hypersonic glide vehicles, through sophisticated radar-guided missile systems and real-time threat processing.

Experts also emphasize the integration of air and naval capabilities, where fighter aircraft like the Rafale Marine simulate real combat threats while warships defend themselves autonomously. The exercise validates decades of development in the Horizon-class frigates’ combat systems, including advanced radar tracking, automated threat prioritization, and rapid missile launch capabilities, ensuring that European fleets remain at the cutting edge of maritime defense technology.

The interception of an air-launched guided bomb by the Forbin, using the Aster 30 missile system, sets a new global benchmark and is expected to influence naval defense strategies worldwide, as countries increasingly invest in multi-layered air defense shields to counter evolving precision-strike threats.