diff --git a/typo3/sysext/frontend/Classes/ContentObject/Menu/AbstractMenuContentObject.php b/typo3/sysext/frontend/Classes/ContentObject/Menu/AbstractMenuContentObject.php
index 148508d88e0b440ac308d29a162b7ee45aada17e..ad6456b57989392b7158ccf00f8a82f65c6cb9b7 100644
--- a/typo3/sysext/frontend/Classes/ContentObject/Menu/AbstractMenuContentObject.php
+++ b/typo3/sysext/frontend/Classes/ContentObject/Menu/AbstractMenuContentObject.php
@@ -1628,6 +1628,9 @@ abstract class AbstractMenuContentObject
             // Links to emails should not have any target
             if (stripos($externalUrl, 'mailto:') === 0) {
                 $LD['target'] = '';
+                // use external target for the URL
+            } elseif (empty($LD['target']) && !empty($this->getTypoScriptFrontendController()->extTarget)) {
+                $LD['target'] = $this->getTypoScriptFrontendController()->extTarget;
             }
         }