MBDA strengthens its close relationship with Greece’s armed forces with two contracts for armaments for the Hellenic Navy and Hellenic Air Force, signed on Thursday, 24 March 2022.
The contracts were signed by Admiral Aristeidis Alexopoulos, General Director for Defence Investments and Armaments of the Greek Ministry of National Defence, and Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA at a meeting in Athens.
Eric Beranger said: “These new signatures continue our long-lasting relationship with Greece. The first customer of our Exocet missile in 1968, we have been working closely together ever since. These new contracts for two weapons packages for the navy and the air force demonstrate our mutual trust, which has been regularly renewed over the years.”
The first contract will supply the ASTER 30 B1 area air defence (photo) and MM40 Exocet Block 3C anti-ship missiles for three Defence and Intervention Frigates (FDI HN) – plus an optional additional frigate.
The second contract will supply weaponry for six additional Rafale combat aircraft. This follows on from the contract signed in January 2021 for the weaponry for 18 Rafale aircraft. The additional six aircraft will be equipped with the same weapons package: the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, the SCALP cruise missile, the MICA multi-mission air-to-air missile, and the AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile.
Companies in the Greek defence industry will be involved in the realisation of these contracts, as well as in the missiles’ follow-on support phase.
MBDA is the only European defense group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems that correspond to the full range of current and future operational needs of the three armed forces (land, sea and air).
With a significant presence in five European countries and within the USA, in 2020 MBDA achieved revenue of 3.6 billion euros with an order book of 16.6 billion euros. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development.
MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%), and Leonardo (25%).
