Nexter, Thales Exhibit New Deisgn of RAPIDFire System Turret

Nexter and Thales have exhibited the RAPIDFire system turret in its final form at the ongoing Euronaval 2022 event in France.

One of the first systems produced will be installed on French Navy fleet replenishment tanker Jacques Chevallier in early 2023 ahead of the at-sea qualification phase.

Designed to protect platforms from low-level air threats, including drones, RAPIDFire is one of the only air defense systems that can autonomously and automatically acquire, identify and destroy a threat using target designation data provided by a combat management system. With a ready rack of 140 rounds of ammunition, corresponding to about 30 interceptions, the system offers effective firepower against drones and swarms of drones, avoiding attrition of surface-to-air missiles in the event of a saturation attack.

The remotely operated RAPIDFire system is capable of defeating all types of threats, including personal watercraft, free-floating mines, ships, loitering munitions, unmanned aerial systems, fighter jets, attack helicopters and missiles at ranges of up to 4,000m.

RAPIDFire is accurate and can defeat threats with no risk of collateral damage thanks to the coupling between the fire control system and the turret, and ultimately through the use of Anti Aerial Airburst (A3B) munitions.

A3B rounds are time-fuzed for greater effectiveness against all types of targets and cannot be jammed, decoyed or triggered by clutter.

RAPIDFire is built around the 40 mm CTA gun suite and ammunition.

RAPIDFire can be readily adapted for land-based platforms such as the CAESAR MkII truck chassis. Thanks to its intuitive user interface and on-the-move firing capability, this system can be seamlessly integrated into a fixed or mobile air defence system to protect combat units on the ground as well as military bases, logistics convoys, sensitive sites and high-value assets.