European missile-maker MBDA opens first industrial facility in Poland

The MBDA logo is seen at the Farnborough 2024 airshow. (Aaron Mehta/Breaking Defense)

WARSAW — European defense giant MBDA has opened its first industrial facility in Poland, meant to act as a “service and technology center” for the company’s operations in the Eastern European nation, especially for the PILICA+ air defense program.

“As we further strengthen our partnership with Poland, our brand new facility will offer wide ranging employment opportunities for Poles, including engineers. It will also allow them to work on cutting edge European complex weapons technology,“ MBDA CEO Eric Beranger said in a company press release . “This new site will not only serve as a service centre but as a hub of technical innovation, that helps to ensure top-tier engineering talent is developed and maintained in Poland.”

A ceremony to open the center on Monday was attended by senior Polish, British, Italian and French officials.

UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard said, “At a time when Europe faces its most serious security challenges for generations, the opening of MBDA’s new site demonstrates that the relationship between our two nations has never been more important. Stronger Polish air defences means stronger NATO air defences, and that work is taking place while also backing jobs in both nations.”

RELATED: Poland, UK close $2.4 billion PILICA+ short range air defense deal

The facility is comprised of two buidings in Czosnow, less than 20 miles northwest of Warsaw. One is 900 square meters, and the other is about 3,000 square meters, including office space, laboratory facilities, as well as a warehouse and a storage hall adapted for the PILICA launcher, according to Malgorzata Kobylarczyk, MBDA General Manager – Poland. The facility is designed to handle multiple launchers at the same time and to have all the necessary spare parts for servicing.

“Currently, 11 people from the Polish team are employed there, exclusively from the Polish team. The team will expand in late 2026 and early 2027, primarily by adding engineering and technical support to support all tasks and to ensure that the specialists and technicians from the UK responsible for the launcher can travel and have a suitable place to work,” Kobylarczyk said at the ceremony.

MBDA calls PILICA+ “one of the largest European short-range defence acquisition programmes in NATO.” It’s designed to function as the “inner tier of a highly capable and integrated Polish air defense network that also includes the upper-tier WILSA system and the mid-tier NAREW system.”

Last November the first production PILICA systems was handed over to the Polish Army at the 34th Air Defense Missile Squadron in Bytom. The delivered system is the first of 16 to be delivered to the Army under an agreement between the MND’s Armament Agency and the PGZ-Pilica+ consortium.

The basic Pilica system, on which the enhanced Pilica+ variant is based, integrates a command post, a target acquisition radar, six fire units with twin 23mm cannons and Piorun missiles, and support vehicles. The advanced version adds iLauncher launchers with CAMM missiles, a new generation of the Zenit-MP+ automated command system, and the Bystra mobile radar station.

在2024年范堡罗航展上可以看到MBDA的标志。（Aaron Mehta/Breaking Defense）

华沙——欧洲国防巨头 MBDA 在波兰开设了其首个工业设施，旨在作为该公司在东欧国家运营的“服务和技术中心”，特别是针对 PILICA+ 防空计划。

MBDA首席执行官埃里克·贝朗格在公司新闻稿中表示：“随着我们与波兰的伙伴关系进一步加强，我们全新的工厂将为波兰人提供广泛的就业机会，包括工程师。他们还将有机会参与欧洲尖端复杂武器技术的研发工作。这个新基地不仅将作为服务中心，更将成为技术创新中心，有助于确保波兰培养和留住顶尖的工程人才。”

周一举行的中心开幕仪式上，波兰、英国、意大利和法国的高级官员出席了仪式。

英国国防战备与工业国务大臣卢克·波拉德表示：“在欧洲面临几代人以来最严峻的安全挑战之际，MBDA新厂的落成表明，我们两国之间的关系从未像现在这样重要。波兰防空力量的增强意味着北约防空力量的增强，这项工作在开展的同时，也为两国创造了就业机会。”

相关报道：波兰和英国达成价值24亿美元的PILICA+短程防空系统协议

该设施位于华沙西北方向不到20英里（32公里）的乔斯诺夫，由两栋建筑组成。据MBDA波兰总经理玛尔戈扎塔·科比拉尔奇克介绍，其中一栋建筑面积为900平方米，另一栋建筑面积约为3000平方米，包括办公空间、实验室设施以及一个仓库和一个专为PILICA运载火箭改造的存储大厅。该设施的设计能够同时处理多个运载火箭，并配备所有必要的维修备件。

科比拉尔奇克在仪式上表示：“目前，波兰团队共有11名成员在那里工作，全部来自波兰团队。该团队将在2026年底和2027年初扩充人员，主要增加工程和技术支持，以支持所有任务，并确保负责运载火箭的英国专家和技术人员能够前往英国，并拥有合适的工作场所。”

MBDA称PILICA+是“北约最大的欧洲短程防御采购项目之一”。它的设计目的是作为“高度发达且一体化的波兰防空网络的核心层，该网络还包括上层的WILSA系统和中层的NAREW系统”。

去年11月，首套量产型PILICA系统在比托姆的第34防空导弹中队交付给波兰陆军。交付的这套系统是根据波兰国防部武器局与PGZ-Pilica+财团之间的协议交付给陆军的16套系统中的第一套。

基本的皮利卡系统（增强型皮利卡+系统即基于此系统）集成了指挥所、目标搜索雷达、六个火力单元（配备双联23毫米机炮和皮奥伦导弹）以及支援车辆。先进版本在此基础上增加了配备CAMM导弹的iLauncher发射器、新一代Zenit-MP+自动化指挥系统以及Bystra移动雷达站。