Record orders for missile maker MBDA, with no direct link to Ukraine

European missile maker MBDA had a record year in terms of orders in 2022, a performance paradoxically with no direct link to the war in Ukraine, its president, Eric Béranger, said on Wednesday.

The group registered a turnover of 4,200 million euros, like the previous year. But it shows some 9 billion new orders for 2022, a record, for a total order book of 22.3 billion. After the creation of 1,570 positions in 2021, it plans to create 2,000 more this year.

But this activity does not stem directly from the conflict in Ukraine. The orders from the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Poland stand out, as well as the industrial cooperation programs with the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India and Australia.

Hypersonic missiles, stalkers and drones

The development of new weapons (hypersonic missiles, loitering ammunition, drones) requires better air defense. “It is no longer technology or mass, it is both” what is needed, explained the president. And time is up.

Although it has not had a direct impact on the order book, the conflict in Ukraine has nevertheless provoked a “reflection on the type of capacities that we will need in the future”, insisted Eric Béranger. The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, recently mentioned the doubling from 20 to 40 units per month by 2025 of the production of Mistral short-range surface-to-air missiles.

Eric Béranger also praised the merits of international cooperation.

MBDA, the world’s second largest missile manufacturer, is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Leonardo (25%). The Franco-Italian economic interest group Eurosam, which brings together MBDA and Thales, was notified at the end of December of a contract for the production of about 700 Aster medium-range anti-aircraft missiles.

Ukraine, until now a negligible arms importer, suddenly became the world’s third largest destination last year, behind Qatar and India, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) revealing a doubling of imports. arms imports into Europe in 2022.