Does the European MBDA group produce enough missiles, and at a sufficiently sustained rate, in particular to help Ukraine in its war against Russia? The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, asked the question in February, clearly suggesting that the world number two in the sector (behind the American Raytheon Technologies) could do better, particularly in the production of Aster anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missiles.
Eric Béranger, CEO of the group owned by the British BAE Systems (37.5%), Airbus Defense & Space (37.5%) and the Italian Leonardo (25%), responded by presenting, Wednesday March 13, 2023 results up sharply. “The work is in progress”he clarified, taking the example of the Aster missiles, which “were developed at a time when Europe was receiving the “peace dividend” and time did not count”. The Russo-Ukrainian war radically changed the situation.
It now places the company face to face with “requests in terms of urgent operational needs”explains Mr. Béranger. “I completely understand the impatience of our customers. In fact, we only have one challenge, and that is to be able to produce more and deliver faster. » Before February 2022, it took forty-two months to manufacture an Aster, from order to delivery to the customer. “ We plan to drop to eighteen months in 2026”he announces.
“Supply issues”
MBDA wants to repeat what it did for the Mistral, its short-range missile (up to 8 kilometers): its monthly production increased from ten missiles in 2022 to twenty today and must reach forty in 2025, and the Production time is about to be halved, to fifteen months in 2025.
Air defense systems have largely contributed to the sharp increase in the order book: +9.9 billion euros in 2023, after +8.8 billion in 2022 and +5.1 billion in 2021, before the conflict in Ukraine . It now totals 28 billion euros, while turnover increased by 7% (to 4.5 billion).
France and Italy have ordered hundreds of Asters for a total of 2 billion euros. Polish forces (for 2 billion) then the Swedish army purchased a large number of CAMMs. These missiles can be launched at speeds of Mach 3 (approximately 3,700 kilometers per hour) from land vehicles, ships or aircraft. Outside of MBDA’s countries of operation (France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain), three quarters of exports were intended for states directly exposed to the Russian threat.
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