Missile giant MBDA is struggling to keep up with Europe’s rearmament plan
The European missile giant MBDA, the manufacturer of well-known Storm Shadow/Scalp and Aster missiles, is struggling to meet orders due to rising demand.
The company’s contract portfolio has reached €37 billion, and at the current production rate, this will only cover seven years of work, reports by Financial Times.
MBDA is unable to keep up with customer needs due to complex manufacturing processes, infrastructure limitations, and stretched logistics between France and Italy. For instance, the Aster missile undergoes several assembly stages at different factories in both countries, which significantly slows down the process.
The company’s orders have reached €37 billion, equivalent to nearly seven years of work at current production speeds.
MBDA CEO Eric Beranger admitted that the company needs to adapt to the “wartime economy,” where speed and volume are key. However, attempts to streamline production met resistance from France and the UK, who saw the changes as a threat to their interests in the joint venture.
“We need to become much more industrial, if I can put it that way, to cope with the challenges of scaling up production,” Beranger said.
The issues are exacerbated by the cross-border structure of the company — weapons often have to be transported multiple times between France and Italy. This takes months but does not yield significant efficiency gains.
MBDA remains a rare example of successful defense cooperation in Europe’s fragmented defense industry. However, analysts have criticized the company for its slow adaptation to the new realities.
Currently, MBDA is investing €2.4 billion by 2028, including in the production of the Aster missile, which consists of over 10,000 components. To speed up processes, the company has even rented robots from Germany and Japan, reducing their deployment time from a year to four months.
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