Today, March 13, MBDA's annual press conference took place in Paris, during which the Group's 2023 results were shared and some ideas on how to face future challenges with respect to growing demand, in a complex international context.
Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA, said: “MBDA was born out of the need for greater European cooperation, a fundamental component of its DNA. The company has grown to become a world leader in its sector. The challenge now is to continue to adapt to a changing environment while promoting cooperation, particularly at the European level. But also to be ready and operational to respond to the new needs of our customers, their Armed Forces and their allies, to help them guarantee their sovereignty in a global environment in which international rights are increasingly threatened".
Among the main domestic contracts of 2023 we note the order of Aster missiles for France and Italy, Akeron MP and Mistral 3 for France, Enforcer - which entered series production at the end of 2023 - for Germany, CAMM-ER for Italy, the evolution of the Sea Viper for the United Kingdom and Mistral 3 for Spain. On the export side, MBDA has recorded significant orders in Europe, in particular major contracts for the CAMM in Poland and Sweden and the mid-life upgrade of the SCALP missiles for Greece.
The events that occurred last year on the international scene once again demonstrated the need for global defense solutions and multi-layered air defense, for which successful cooperations, such as the Aster or CAMM families, prove crucial. Current conflict theaters around the world are also revealing new trends, such as the use of drones. A trend that MBDA identified immediately when designing Sky Warden, the flagship solution that addresses the entire range of threats coming from unmanned aerial systems.
With rapidly evolving threats, innovating and being prepared for the future remain MBDA's priorities to be ready to counter new threats and be present in new conflict domains. The future of deep strike is progressing, with Italy joining France and the UK in developing FC/ASW. MBDA is also leading Hydis², a consortium involving 14 European countries developing the Aquila interceptor to address the emergence of hypersonic effectors; without forgetting the artificial intelligence solutions applied to collaborative combat, as demonstrated by Orchestrike, MBDA's Collaborative Combat Effectors demonstrator. The company has also made major inroads into directed energy systems such as the DragonFire in the UK, the Laser Weapon Demonstrator (LWD) in Germany and Cilas in France. Finally, Space, a new domain where it is necessary to safeguard strategic assets and have the ability to complete operations on Earth. Hence the recent participation in the AsterX exercise.
To remain a reliable partner to its customers, MBDA continues to anticipate needs and adapt quickly. That's why the company is ramping up its production, with significant increases in production rates of Akeron MP, Aster,
Brimstone, CAMM, Enforcer, Exocet, MICA and Mistral, while continuing to invest in the future. MBDA actively participates at European level, continuing to support the European Commission, the European Defense Agenda, and now welcomes the European Defense Industry Strategy and its future implementation.
Between 2023 and 2028, MBDA will invest an unprecedented 2,4 billion euros at Group level and more than 2024 new resources will be hired in 2.600.
Financial results 2023
• Total revenues amounted to 4,5 billion euros.
• New record in order acquisition for a total of 9,9 billion euros.
• The order book reached 28 billion euros.
