France Makes First Operational Strike of MdCN Cruise Missile in Syria

France has conducted the first operational use of its long-range, sea-launched, stand-off cruise missile, MdCN (Missile De Croisière Naval – naval cruise missile) when it was fired from a frigate on Syria Saturday.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly posted a video of a FREMM frigate firing a naval cruise missile on her twitter handle Saturday.

She tweeted, “Firing a naval cruise missile from one of our multi-mission frigates that night in the Mediterranean. Objective: A chemical weapons production site of the Syrian regime.”

The MdCN missiles are a naval variant of air-launched Storm Shadow/ SCALP cruise missile developed by MBDA. The missile is primarily meant for French Navy and is launched by FREMM frigates.

The first qualification firing of the MdCN missile was conducted in July 2013. The MdCN is of two specifications. The one fired on Saturday was a vertically launched missile. The second one is developed to be an underwater-launched variant for the Barracuda nuclear-powered attack submarines.