Europe’s top missile maker MBDA boosts output 33% amid record orders

PARIS — MBDA, Europe’s largest missile maker , boosted production and deliveries by 33% in 2024, as demand from European governments for air defense and battlefield munitions lifted orders to a record.

The maker of Aster air-defense interceptors, the SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow cruise missile and Exocet anti-ship weapon expects missile production to double this year from the 2023 level, Chief Executive Officer Éric Béranger said at a press conference here on Monday.

MBDA orders have surged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with European countries spending billions to strengthen their air defenses as well as help Ukraine. The company may stand to gain further over concerns whether the U.S. is a reliable supplier of weapons for Europe, as President Donald Trump threatens to withhold NATO security guarantees, increasingly aligns with Russia and talks of annexing Canada and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

“This is a little bit a moment of truth for Europe,” Béranger said. “We have all the technological capabilities that we need, we have the brains, which means that it is really a matter of what we want to do in Europe, what position we want to reach. This is the reason why the moment is absolutely historic.”

MBDA is the only Western company besides American firms capable of producing “the full range of complex weapons,” Béranger said. The company makes short, medium and long-range air-defense missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and anti-tank munitions, and is developing a hypersonic interceptor.

The company is a pan-European joint venture between Airbus, the U.K.’s BAE Systems and Italy’s Leonardo, and is based in a suburb southwest of Paris. Local units in the U.K., France, Germany and Italy allow governments there to shield some national defense interests from the group.

MBDA’s orders jumped to a record €13.8 billion (US$15 billion) last year from €9.9 billion in 2023, and compared to €5.1 billion in 2021, before Russia invaded Ukraine. Meanwhile, sales rose to €4.9 billion from €4.5 billion a year earlier. The order backlog end-December reached €37 billion, the highest ever, from €28 billion at the end of 2023.

The war in Ukraine and attacks by Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea since 2023 have raised the profile of MBDA products, several of which now carry the “combat proven” tag.

Béranger mentioned the downing of a Sukhoi fighter jet by Ukraine using a French-Italian SAMP/T system with Aster missiles, and Ukraine’s use of SCALP/Storm Shadow. French and British warships have used Aster to down anti-ship ballistic missiles in the Red Sea, and the CEO said the Italian Navy has also used the interceptor there.

“In 2024 you may have seen that the MBDA products were used in a number of theaters and were used in a very reliable way,” Béranger said.

Denmark last week shortlisted SAMP/T for a planned purchase of air defense systems, in competition with the U.S. Patriot system, to cover the high end of the threat spectrum. For the lower end, MBDA’s VL MICA system is facing off with Kongsberg’s NASAMS, the IRIS-T SLM from Diehl Defense, and the U.S. IFPC.

France, Italy and the U.K. last week confirmed an order for an additional 218 Aster missiles, including the Aster 30 B1 variant for the three countries’ navies and French and Italian SAMP/T systems, and the shorter-range Aster 15 for the French Navy. That follows a French-Italian order in December 2022 for 700 Aster missiles.

Béranger said with regards to buying European or non-European, the priority should be to keep the design authority in-house. That’s what allowed MBDA to adapt Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles to Ukrainian Sukhoi aircraft within only a few weeks, he explained.

“It was absolutely not foreseen for this, but because we did have the design authority in Europe, we had the knowledge, and we had the authority to decide how to do it,” Béranger said.

The CEO declined to say which MBDA products are subject to U.S. export regulations or contain U.S.-sourced components, but said “every time our customers want us to be desensitized, we can do that, and we are doing that.” The company worked in 2019 to rid SCALP of parts subject to the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulation, after the U.S. blocked the sale of the cruise missile to Egypt in 2018.

The company is set to invest €2.4 billion through to 2029 to accelerate production, and targets 2,600 new hires this year. That’s after recruiting 2,500 people in 2024, increasing the workforce to more than 18,000 employees.

“The world has changed, meaning that basically MBDA needs to industrialize more itself in order to deliver higher pace and higher volumes,” Béranger said. “This is happening in all our sites.”

The company is pre-assembling some missile parts and subsystems before receiving orders to be ready to deliver a number of missiles “very quickly” if asked to do so.

MBDA is “very, very much ahead” of schedule on plans to raise Aster production by 50% in 2026 compared with 2022, according to Béranger. He said the company reached a target to quadruple monthly output of the Mistral short-range air defense missile already in 2024, rather than this year.

“We are ahead of time on each of those targets that I mentioned last year, and this is true for a number of capabilities,” the MBDA CEO said, saying that also applies to the Akeron anti-tank missile, CAMM air-defense missile and Enforcer infantry weapon.

MBDA is working with startups to develop drones and loitering munitions, and is talking to some industries including automotive about potential mass production, should the need arise. “This is really a domain where we are teaming, because MBDA is not a drone manufacturer.”

Béranger said laser weapons are coming, but will complement rather than replace missiles. “It will be an interesting complement, because indeed, firing a laser of course is not very expensive. Building a laser is expensive, but firing a laser can be pretty cheap.”

The U.K., France, Germany and Italy are working on separate laser-weapon projects, and MBDA is involved in all four countries, Béranger said. Making laser weapons truly effective will still require a lot of work and resources, and the CEO said he expects countries to start cooperating at some point, and MBDA is positioned for that.

The company is working on two missiles as part of the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon program as successors for both SCALP/Storm Shadow and Exocet. For now, the timetables for the high-speed maneuverable RJ10 missile and the stealth subsonic TP15 are consistent, with the missiles expected in the early 2030s, according to Béranger.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——欧洲最大的导弹制造商MBDA宣布，2024年其产量和交付量将增长33%，原因是欧洲各国政府对防空和战场弹药的需求推动订单创下历史新高。

生产 Aster 防空拦截导弹、SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow 巡航导弹和 Exocet 反舰武器的制造商预计，今年的导弹产量将比 2023 年的水平翻一番。首席执行官埃里克·贝朗热周一在新闻发布会上表示。

自2022年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以来，MBDA的订单激增，欧洲各国斥资数十亿美元加强防空系统并援助乌克兰。随着美国总统特朗普威胁要取消北约安全保障、日益与俄罗斯结盟以及讨论吞并加拿大和丹麦自治领土格陵兰岛，人们对美国是否是欧洲可靠的武器供应国产生了担忧，MBDA的订单量可能因此进一步增长。

贝朗热说：“这对欧洲来说是一个关键时刻。我们拥有所需的一切技术能力，我们拥有顶尖的人才，这意味着现在真正重要的是我们想在欧洲做什么，我们想达到怎样的地位。正因如此，这一刻才具有绝对的历史意义。”

贝朗热表示，MBDA是除美国公司外唯一一家能够生产“全系列复杂武器”的西方公司。该公司生产短程、中程和远程防空导弹、巡航导弹、反舰导弹和反坦克弹药，并且正在研发高超音速拦截器。

该公司是由空中客车公司、英国航空航天系统公司（BAE Systems）和意大利莱昂纳多公司组成的泛欧合资企业，总部位于巴黎西南郊区。其在英国、法国、德国和意大利的地方分支机构使这些国家的政府能够保护部分国家国防利益免受该集团的影响。

MBDA去年的订单额飙升至创纪录的138亿欧元（150亿美元），远高于2023年的99亿欧元，也高于俄罗斯入侵乌克兰前2021年的51亿欧元。与此同时，销售额也从上年的45亿欧元增至49亿欧元。截至去年12月底，MBDA的订单积压额达到370亿欧元，创历史新高，而2023年底的订单积压额为280亿欧元。

自 2023 年以来，乌克兰战争和胡塞武装分子在红海袭击船只的事件提高了 MBDA 产品的知名度，其中一些产品现在带有“经实战检验”的标签。

贝朗热提到乌克兰使用法意联合研制的SAMP/T系统和“紫菀”（Aster）导弹击落一架苏霍伊战斗机，以及乌克兰使用“风暴阴影”（SCALP/Storm Shadow）系统的情况。法国和英国军舰曾在红海使用“紫菀”导弹拦截反舰弹道导弹，这位首席执行官还表示，意大利海军也曾在该地区使用过这种拦截导弹。

“在 2024 年，您可能已经看到 MBDA 的产品在许多剧院中得到应用，并且使用起来非常可靠，”贝朗热说道。

上周，丹麦将SAMP/T列入其计划采购的防空系统候选名单，与美国的“爱国者”系统展开竞争，以应对高端威胁。在低端威胁方面，MBDA的VL MICA系统将与康斯伯格的NASAMS、迪尔防务公司的IRIS-T SLM以及美国的IFPC展开竞争。

法国、意大利和英国上周确认增购218枚“紫菀”（Aster）导弹，其中包括供三国海军使用的“紫菀30 B1”型导弹以及法意两国SAMP/T系统的导弹，还有供法国海军使用的射程更短的“紫菀15”型导弹。此前，法意两国已于2022年12月订购了700枚“紫菀”导弹。

贝朗热表示，无论采购欧洲产品还是非欧洲产品，首要任务都应该是保持设计权在公司内部。他解释说，正是这一点使得MBDA公司能够在短短几周内将“风暴阴影”和“风暴阴影”导弹适配到乌克兰苏霍伊战机上。

“这完全是意料之外的，但因为我们在欧洲拥有设计权威，我们拥有相关的知识，也拥有决定如何实施的权力，”贝朗热说道。

首席执行官拒绝透露哪些MBDA产品受美国出口管制条例约束或包含美国产零部件，但他表示，“每当客户要求我们降低敏感度时，我们都能做到，而且我们也正在这样做。” 2019年，在美方于2018年阻止向埃及出售巡航导弹后，该公司着手清除SCALP导弹中受美国《国际武器贸易条例》约束的零部件。

该公司计划到2029年投资24亿欧元以加快生产，并计划今年新增2600名员工。此前，该公司已于2024年招聘了2500名员工，使员工总数超过18000人。

“世界已经发生了变化，这意味着MBDA基本上需要提高自身的工业化程度，才能实现更高的生产速度和产量，”贝朗热说。“这种情况正在我们所有的生产基地发生。”

该公司在接到订单前预先组装了一些导弹部件和子系统，以便在接到要求时能够“非常迅速地”交付一定数量的导弹。

据贝朗热称，MBDA公司在2026年将“紫菀”（Aster）导弹产量较2022年提高50%的计划方面“进展非常非常顺利”。他还表示，该公司已于2024年而非今年实现了“西北风”（Mistral）短程防空导弹月产量翻两番的目标。

MBDA 首席执行官表示：“我们去年提到的每个目标都已提前完成，而且很多能力都是如此。”他还表示，这同样适用于 Akeron 反坦克导弹、CAMM 防空导弹和 Enforcer 步兵武器。

MBDA正与初创公司合作开发无人机和巡飞弹，并与包括汽车行业在内的一些行业探讨在必要时进行大规模生产的可能性。“这确实是一个我们需要团队合作的领域，因为MBDA本身并不是无人机制造商。”

贝朗热表示，激光武器即将问世，但它将作为导弹的补充而非替代。“这将是一种有趣的补充，因为发射激光的成本当然并不高。制造激光器很贵，但发射激光的成本却相当低。”

贝朗热表示，英国、法国、德国和意大利都在各自开展激光武器项目，MBDA参与了这四个国家的项目。他指出，要使激光武器真正有效，仍需投入大量精力和资源，并预计各国将在某个时候开始合作，而MBDA已为此做好准备。

该公司正在研发两款导弹，作为未来巡航/反舰武器计划的一部分，分别作为SCALP/风暴阴影导弹和飞鱼导弹的后继产品。据贝朗热称，目前高速机动型RJ10导弹和隐形亚音速TP15导弹的研发时间表基本一致，预计将于2030年代初问世。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。