MBDA, European champion and global player in the missile and missile systems sector, confirmed its ability to deliver products and solutions on time and quality to its worldwide customers, with sales of 2.8 billion Euros in 2013.
Order intake in 2013 was 4 billion Euros, achieved in a difficult business environment, following 2012 when orders reached 2.3 billion Euros. As of 31st December 2013, the order book stands at 10.8 billion Euros.
“Thanks to a renewed portfolio of products well adapted to the market and thanks to the continued support of its domestic customers, MBDA was able to achieve a remarkable performance in terms of exports, with a total of 2.1 billion Euros of orders received” said Antoine Bouvier (photo), CEO of MBDA. “For a second year in succession, export order intake exceeded domestic orders, compensating for a difficult budgetary environment in Europe.
“These results are the proof of our ability to make the company more robust and to grow the business for the long term even though the European market is shrinking. Our operational performance during the year was also excellent and we were able to show our customers our ability to deliver against our commitments.
Together with our domestic customers, we have been able to secure new programs to meet future military capability requirements, while at the same time strengthening the Complex Weapon sector in Europe for the medium and long term. In this respect, important events in 2013 included a development and production order for the new generation MMP land combat missile system in France, and the production contracts for the Sea Ceptor naval air defense system in the UK and for the Meteor missile in Germany. With this contract sign off, Germany became the sixth and final European partner nation to order this Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile.
The confirmation of the FASGW/ANL program represents a major milestone for Anglo-French cooperation as decided upon during the Lancaster House summit in 2010. The program also lies at the heart of the company’s specialization strategy to be achieved through a series of trans-national centers of excellence.
MBDA’s cooperative business model, together with its specialization strategy, are necessary to sustain the long term sovereign capabilities needed in Europe and to face the competitive market challenges of the future. The memorandum of understanding, signed during the Brize Norton summit meeting on 31st January 2014, was therefore a strong endorsement of Anglo-French cooperation in defense and of the unique MBDA business model.
Looking beyond European cooperation, MBDA is about to complete the demonstration of capability phase of the transatlantic MEADS program, thanks to the support of the German and Italian governments which was crucial in maintaining the cooperation with the United States until the end of its commitment. Along with the Aster family of missile systems operated by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and several export customers, MBDA is now able to offer the most comprehensive range of solutions for the protection of armed forces and populations against the air and ballistic missile threats.
2014 will be a year of opportunity but also a year of challenges with a number of important campaigns that will be a measure of the success of our global strategy aimed at growing the company and also keeping a strong industrial footprint in our European countries. To meet these challenges, we will keep on driving forward export presence and thereby maintaining the critical mass necessary for MBDA to continue as a global player. On the domestic side, we will continue in our role as European champion, promoting cooperation and consolidation where relevant and proving to our customers that we are a trusted partner,” Bouvier concluded.
