MBDA CEO sees ‘moment of truth’ in European defense, as firm sets order record

Missiles are displayed outside the MBDA exhibition hall during the Farnborough International Airshow 2022 on July 19, 2022 in Farnborough, England. (Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images)

BEIRUT — European missile giant MBDA announced that it hit a new record in orders for 2024, amounting to €13.8 billion ($15.1 billion USD), and predicted more aggressive growth to come as European militaries race to arm themselves amid a deepening rift with the US.

“This is a very specific moment where Europe is really considering, [and] actively discussing how it wants to take its destiny in its own hand,” MBDA CEO Eric Béranger told journalists Monday. “This is a little bit a moment of truth for Europe.”

The company said its total revenues for 2024 were €4.9 billion, with a backlog of €37 billion. The CEO pointed that his firm is working on new missiles, including the Aquila, which is a hypersonic missile interceptor.

Generally speaking, he stressed “the need to accelerate, the need to increase the volumes [of missiles]. In 2024 we produced and delivered 33 percent more missiles than in 2023.  In 2025, in fact, the production of new missiles, and the delivery of new missiles at the end of the day, will have doubled when compared to 2023.” Béranger projected the firm’s investment in missile production to reach €2.4 billion from 2025 to 2029, and the company expects to hire 2,600 new employees in 2025.

Earlier on Monday, Europe’s Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation – Executive Administration (OCCAR-EA) and Eurosam, a European Joint venture between MBDA and French firm Thales, signed the 15th amendment to accelerate production of Aster 30 B1 ground and naval missiles, and Aster 15 naval missiles.

In his briefing with reporters Béranger stressed the significance of having the design authority in Europe as “it means that you are the ones conceiving the equipment, the system, which means that you know them. If you are the one conceiving it, designing it, [this] means that you don’t need to ask anybody on how it works, whether you can adapt it in one way or another. You don’t need to ask anybody outside yourself [Europe] for the approval to use it in certain conditions or to adapt it.”

While Béranger did not cite any specific examples of where such a dependence outside Europe could be an issue, his comments came shortly after the new Canadian prime minister ordered his defense ministry to re-evaluate Ottawa’s planned purchase of American F-35 jets. The ministry told Breaking Defense Monday it was “doing its homework” on the deal “given the changing environment.”

“We are really today, living through historical moments where the alliances in the world are being challenged [and] tested,” Béranger said. “We are living in a moment where the behavior of historical allies is becoming more uncertain, and so we are living it really, in a historical moment where we are shifting from one period to another.”

He added that “this does have some consequences, and through those consequences […] more than ever in those times for European countries, the model of MBDA is proving relevant. The model of MBDA, I mean the cooperation model, where several European countries, cooperate together in order to benefit from all the potential capabilities in terms of complex weapons in full sovereignty.”