MBDA books record orders amid European air-defense rush

PARIS — Pan-European missile maker MBDA booked record orders in 2023, as countries across the region scrambled to beef up their air defenses in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The company’s order intake rose 10% to a record €9.9 billion (US$10.8 billion) last year, Chief Executive Officer Eric Béranger said at a press conference here on March 13. The order book stood at €28 billion at the end of December, from €22.3 billion a year earlier.

“We saw in our orders in 2023 how much air defense is important for countries,” Béranger said. He said air defense will again be important this year. “It’s really a major topic for our governments, and we see that this is the area where we’re asked to accelerate, we’re asked to increase volumes.”

MBDA orders have nearly doubled from 2021, before Russia invaded Ukraine, and 70% of last year’s orders were for air defense. The war in Ukraine has driven home Europe’s need to protect itself against everything from drones to ballistic missiles, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz setting up the European Sky Shield Initiative and Poland spending billions to modernize its air defenses.

Russia had launched nearly 7,400 missiles and 3,700 Shahed drones against targets in Ukraine as of December, since the start of its invasion in February 2022, according to news reports citing Ukraine’s air force.

In response to the evolving security situation in Europe, France has repeated called on MBDA to speed up its missile production, particularly of the Aster air-defense missiles, used by the French, Italian and British navies, as well as the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air-defense system.

MBDA plans to triple monthly production rate for the CAMM family of missiles between 2022 and 2026, and increase production of Aster by 50% over the period. The company is targeting cutting the time between an Aster order and delivery to 18 months by 2026, from 42 months before 2022.

Aster “was developed in an era where time was not important,” Béranger said. He said the big change after February 2022 “is that suddenly, brutally, time matters.”

MBDA is looking at its entire portfolio to cut delivery times, starting with air-defense products. Legacy issues for Aster production include components that cross the Alps “many times,” something the company would organize differently if it was creating the production line today, the CEO said. MBDA is a joint venture between Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.

MBDA is doubling production capacity at its site in Bolton, U.K., is creating a second final assembly line for CAMM-ER in Italy, and is doubling the site of its final assembly line in France. The company plans to invest at least €2.4 billion over the next five years to expand production capabilities.

The company plans to quadruple monthly throughput of the Mistral short-range air-defense missile between 2022 and 2025, and increase production of the Akeron anti-tank missile 2.5 times.

“All of this is work in progress, and I perfectly understand the impatience of our customers,” Béranger said.

MBDA plans to hire more than 2,500 people this year, after hiring around that number in 2023, and integrating the new hires is the main challenge, rather than recruitment, according to the CEO. The company currently employs around 15,000 people.

Last year’s biggest order came from Poland, with a deal worth more than €2 billion to supply missiles for the country’s PILICA+ program, and a French-Italian order for Aster in early 2023 worth more than €1 billion, according to Béranger. The CEO said 76% of last year’s orders came from European countries other than the five MBDA considers its home market – the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Loitering munitions are a new and growing segment, and MBDA has an ability to integrate explosive charges that can transform dual-use drones into weapon systems, according to Béranger. The CEO said that is not a widespread competence, and the missile maker is working with small and medium-sized drone companies to offer joint products.

“MBDA is not intending to become a drone manufacturer, it is not our job, but creating and offering to our customers weapon systems based on loitering munitions, using drones, this is something where we are very legitimate,” the CEO said.

The company is in talks with Europe-based Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation about the hypersonic interceptor project Hydis2, and Béranger said he expects to sign a contract with OCCAR within weeks. The CEO said the move will go beyond the matter of providing a demonstrator, and go into “programmatic considerations.”

MBDA is not currently facing any supply-chain shortages, but is stockpiling special grades of iron, as well as titanium and electronic components, something it already started doing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Béranger said the company has 80 tons of specific types of iron stocked, compared to requirements of 4 to 5 tons, and has enough titanium for several thousand missiles.

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——泛欧导弹制造商MBDA在2023年获得了创纪录的订单，因为该地区各国都在争相加强防空能力，以应对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰。

首席执行官埃里克·贝朗热3月13日在此间举行的新闻发布会上表示，该公司去年的订单量增长了10%，达到创纪录的99亿欧元（108亿美元）。截至去年12月底，订单总额为280亿欧元，高于上年同期的223亿欧元。

贝朗热表示：“从2023年的订单来看，防空对各国来说至关重要。” 他说，防空今年依然非常重要。“这确实是各国政府关注的重点，我们看到，政府要求我们加快步伐，增加这方面的采购量。”

自2021年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之前，MBDA的订单量几乎翻了一番，去年订单中有70%是防空系统。乌克兰战争凸显了欧洲保护自身免受从无人机到弹道导弹等各种威胁的必要性，德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨启动了“欧洲天空之盾”倡议，波兰也斥资数十亿欧元对其防空系统进行现代化改造。

据新闻报道援引乌克兰空军的消息称，自2022年2月入侵乌克兰以来，截至12月，俄罗斯已向乌克兰境内目标发射了近7400枚导弹和3700架“沙赫德”无人机。

针对欧洲不断变化的安全形势，法国一再呼吁MBDA加快导弹生产，特别是法国、意大利和英国海军使用的“紫菀”防空导弹以及法意联合研制的SAMP/T防空系统。

MBDA计划在2022年至2026年间将CAMM系列导弹的月产量提高三倍，并将Aster导弹的产量在此期间提高50%。该公司目标是到2026年将Aster导弹的订单交付周期从2022年之前的42个月缩短至18个月。

贝朗热说，Aster“是在一个时间并不重要的时代开发的”。他表示，2022年2月之后最大的变化是“突然之间，时间变得至关重要”。

MBDA正在对其所有产品组合进行审查，以缩短交付时间，首先从防空产品入手。首席执行官表示，Aster导弹生产遗留的问题包括部分部件需要“多次”穿越阿尔卑斯山，如果今天重新创建这条生产线，公司会采取不同的组织方式。MBDA是空客、BAE系统公司和莱昂纳多公司的合资企业。

MBDA正在将其位于英国博尔顿的工厂产能翻番，在意大利新建一条CAMM-ER总装线，并将其位于法国的总装线规模扩大一倍。该公司计划在未来五年内至少投资24亿欧元以扩大生产能力。

该公司计划在 2022 年至 2025 年间将“西北风”短程防空导弹的月产量提高四倍，并将“阿克龙”反坦克导弹的产量提高 2.5 倍。

“这一切都还在进行中，我完全理解客户的急切心情，”贝朗热说道。

MBDA计划今年招聘超过2500名员工，此前该公司预计2023年也将招聘约相同数量的员工。据首席执行官称，最大的挑战在于如何整合这些新员工，而非招聘本身。该公司目前拥有约15000名员工。

据贝朗热透露，去年最大的订单来自波兰，价值超过20亿欧元，用于为该国的PILICA+项目供应导弹；此外，还有一份价值超过10亿欧元的法意联合订单，将于2023年初交付Aster导弹。这位首席执行官表示，去年76%的订单来自除MBDA视为其本土市场的五个国家（英国、法国、意大利、德国和西班牙）以外的其他欧洲国家。

据贝朗热称，巡飞弹是一个新兴且不断增长的领域，MBDA公司有能力将爆炸装置集成到无人机上，从而将两用无人机改造为武器系统。这位首席执行官表示，这项技术并不普及，这家导弹制造商正与中小无人机公司合作，共同开发联合产品。

“MBDA 无意成为无人机制造商，这不是我们的工作，但利用无人机为客户制造和提供基于巡飞弹的武器系统，这是我们非常擅长的领域，”首席执行官表示。

该公司正与总部位于欧洲的联合军备合作组织（OCCAR）就高超音速拦截器项目Hydis2进行谈判，贝朗热表示，他预计将在几周内与OCCAR签署合同。这位首席执行官表示，此举不仅限于提供演示样机，还将涉及“项目规划方面的考量”。

MBDA目前并未面临任何供应链短缺问题，但正在储备特殊等级的铁、钛以及电子元件，这原本就是为了应对新冠疫情而采取的措施。贝朗热表示，公司目前储备了80吨特定类型的铁，而实际需求量仅为4至5吨，此外，公司还储备了足够制造数千枚导弹的钛。

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。