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MBDA

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Not to be confused with Minority Business Development Agency.

MBDA
Company typeJoint venture
IndustryDefence
FoundedDecember 2001; 23 years ago (2001-12)
HeadquartersLe Plessis-Robinson, France
Key people
Éric Béranger (CEO)[1]
ProductsMissiles, missiles systems, countermeasures, countermining
RevenueIncrease €4.5 billion (2023)[2]
Owners
Number of employees
13,000[3]
DivisionsMBDA France
MBDA UK
MBDA Italy
MBDA Germany
MBDA Spain
SubsidiariesMatra Electronique
GDI Simulation
Bayern-Chemie
TDW
MBDA Inc.
Websitembda-systems.com

MBDA is a European multinational corporation specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of missiles and related systems.[4][5] Headquartered in Le Plessis-Robinson, France, the company was founded in December 2001 via the merger of three of the most prominent European missile systems companies: the French Aérospatiale Matra Missiles, the Anglo-French Matra BAe Dynamics and the missile division of the Anglo-Italian Alenia Marconi Systems. These businesses were subsidiaries of EADS (now called Airbus), BAE Systems and Finmeccanica (now Leonardo), and all three remain MBDA's parent companies.[6][7]

MBDA employs around 13,000 people worldwide as of 2023 and, despite being an integrated company, has maintained national divisions since its creation: MBDA France (over 6,000 employees), MBDA UK (over 4,000) and MBDA Italy (1852).[8][9] They were formed by simply grouping in their respective countries the assets and activities of the various French, British and Italian businesses that had merged to create MBDA.

In March 2006, LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH, the German missile subsidiary of EADS, was acquired by MBDA and in 2010, an office was opened in Madrid, Spain,[10] leading to the formation of two additional national divisions: MBDA Germany (1,200 employees) and MBDA Spain (25).[8]

In 2023, MBDA generated €4.5 billion in revenue. It works with over 90 armed forces worldwide and also has a number of subsidiaries, including one in the United States, MBDA Inc (50 employees).[8]

History

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Shareholders, as of 2019:

  Airbus (37.5%)
  BAE Systems (37.5%)
  Leonardo (25%)

The consolidation within Europe's missile industry began in 1996 when half of the missile business of Matra Hautes Technologies (the Matra conglomerate's aerospace, defence and telecommunications division) merged with the missile activities of BAe Dynamics (itself a division of British Aerospace) to form the 50/50 joint venture Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD). Three years later, the other half of Matra Hautes Technologies's missile business (Matra Missiles) and Aérospatiale's missile systems division were consolidated to form Aérospatiale Matra Missiles (AMM) following the merger between Aérospatiale and Matra Hautes Technologies in 1999. As a result of these developments, the new French corporation, Aérospatiale-Matra, not only had AAM as its wholly-owned missile division but also now held Matra's 50% stake in MBD. In 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with Germany's DASA and Spain's CASA to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space or EADS (now rebranded Airbus); the latter thus gained ownership of all of Aérospatiale-Matra's assets, including its stakes in joint ventures; which is how Airbus came to be one of MBDA's three parent companies.[11]

In 1998, GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems (a subsidiary of GEC-Marconi) and Alenia Difesa [it] (a subsidiary of Finmeccanica) combined their missile and radar activities to form the 50/50 joint venture Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS). In 1999, British Aerospace purchased and merged with GEC-Marconi to form BAE Systems.[12] Thus the newly-formed BAE Systems gained ownership of both BAe Dynamics' 50% stake in Matra BAe Dynamics and GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems' 50% stake in Alenia Marconi Systems; while Alenia Difesa's 50% stake in the latter remained under the ownership of Finmeccanica, which would later be rebranded Leonardo.

In December 2001, AAM, MBD and the missile systems activities of AMS merged, thus fouding MBDA.[13] In March 2006, LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH (LFK), the German missile subsidiary of EADS, was acquired by MBDA. And on 9 May 2012, it was rebranded MBDA Deutschland GmbH. Together with its subsidiaries TDW and Bayern-Chemie, it forms MBDA Germany. Since February 2002, MBDA has owned 40% of Inmize Sistemas S.L., a Spanish company that was formed to integrate the experience and technology of the major Spanish defence companies in the guided weapons sector. An office was opened in the country in 2010 to manage its local activities. As AMS had R&D assets located in California, MBDA also possess facilities in the United States, choosing to operate in the country via a wholly-owned subsidiary called MBDA Inc.[5] In December 2011, MBDA Inc acquired the Viper Strike activity of Northrop Grumman in Huntsville, Alabama.[14]

In August 2022, MBDA Missile Systems' data was hacked from a compromised external hard drive. The data allegedly included blueprints of NATO weapons used in the Russo-Ukrainian War, and 80 Gb of such data was sold for 15 Bitcoin. NATO started an investigation trying to assess and minimize the impact of this data breach.[15]

Products

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Overall, the group has 45 products in service and 15 more in development.[when?] MBDA's products include:

Programmes under development

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Locations

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References

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  1. ^ Hepher, Tim (15 May 2019). "MBDA boss faces battle of wits as Airbus strategy chief". Reuters. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  2. ^ "MBDA expects orders, revenue in Italy to dip this year after new records in 2023". Reuters. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  3. ^ "ABOUT US". MBDA. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  4. ^ MBDA • European centres of excellence Archived 2010-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c d e MBDA Inc. US Division Corporate Page Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "History". Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  7. ^ "MBDA - Company Profile". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "MBDA WORLDWIDE". Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  9. ^ "MBDA HISTORY". Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  10. ^ "History". Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  11. ^ "European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company | European consortium". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  12. ^ Judge, Ben (30 November 2015). "30 November 1999: BAE Systems formed in £7.7bn merger". moneyweek.com. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  13. ^ "EADS, BAE and Finmeccanica Complete MBDA Merger". Defense Daily International. 21 December 2001.
  14. ^ "MBDA purchases Northrop Grumman's Viper Strike munitions business" (Press release). 12 December 2011.
  15. ^ "Nato investigates hacker sale of missile firm data". BBC News. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem". 5 March 2021.
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