MBDA
<youtube size="small" align="right" caption="MBDA Promotional Video">j8KOPzLbdF0</youtube>MBDA is a multi-national group, and a world leader in missile systems and has nearly 10,000 employees across Europe and the USA. MBDA has three main shareholders in defence and aeronautical systems – BAE Systems (37.5%), EADS(37.5%) and Finmeccanica (25%). The MBDA website reports a turnover of 2.6 Billion Euros and produced over 3000 missiles. Furthermore, MBDA works with over 90 armed forces worldwide. [1]
Background
MBDA operates in all of the major world markets and is the only company in its sector able to design and produce guided weapon systems for land-based, naval and airborne requirements. Now a standalone company in its own right, it has more than 70 customers worldwide. While consolidation in the sector was behind this merger, the entity that has been created better reflects developments within the worldwide industry, according to the company.
Coming from such a distinguished background - BAE Systems is a global defence operator, EADS is the largest aerospace company in Europe and Finmeccanica is Italy’s second-largest industrial group - MBDA has a strong pedigree. But its new-found strength lies in that it has at its heart Europe’s top guided weapons design and production centres united by strong transnational programmes such as the Storm Shadow/SCALP stand-off cruise missile family, the Meteor advanced generation beyond visual range air-to-air missile and the Aster family of anti-missile missile systems. [2]
Company Profile
MBDA was created in December 2001, after the merger of the main missile producers in France, Italy and Great Britain. Each of these companies contributed the experience gained from fifty years of technological and operational success. The restructuring of the industry in Europe was completed with the acquisition of the German subsidiary EADS/LFK in March 2006. This further enriched MDBA’s range of technologies and products, consolidating the Group’s world-leading position in the industry.
MBDA is the only Group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems to meet the whole range of current and future operational requirements for the three armed forces (army, navy, air force). Overall, the Group offers a range of 45 products in service and another 15 in development.
MBDA has demonstrated its ability to bring together the best skills across the whole of Europe, and has succeeded in becoming the prime contractor for a series of strategic multi-national programmes. These include the six-nation Meteor air superiority weapon, the Franco-British conventionally armed cruise missile, Storm Shadow/SCALP, and a family of air defence systems based on the Aster missile for France and Italy (for ground and naval based air defence) and for the UK (naval air defence for the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers).
Other programmes such as MEADS further serve to position MBDA at the heart of the European defence sector as well as establishing cooperative transatlantic links with the principal groups in the US defence industry. [3]
Contacts
References
- ↑ MDBA website, accessed November 2010
- ↑ Hilda Howerd, MBDA UK, Rocket science, April 2002, accessed 17 November 2010
- ↑ MDBA websiteMBDA Website accessed 16th November 2010
