MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.[4][5] It was created in December 2001 after the merger of the main French, British and Italian missile systems companies; Matra, BAe Dynamics and Alenia. These were previously the missile subsidiaries of Aérospatiale-Matra (merged into EADS, now called Airbus), BAE Systems and Finmeccanica (now Leonardo).[6][7] The company's headquarters are located in Le Plessis-Robinson, France.
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Despite being a European joint venture, MBDA has maintained national divisions since its creation: MBDA France, MBDA UK and MBDA Italy.[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 Spanish assets followed in 2010,[10] leading to the formation of two additional national divisions (MBDA Germany and MBDA Spain).[8]
In 2016, the company had more than 10,500 employees. In 2017, MBDA recorded orders for €4.2 bn and an order book of €16.8 bn. MBDA works with over 90 armed forces worldwide and also has a number of subsidiaries, including one in the United States (MBDA Inc).[8]
Shareholders, as of 2019:
The consolidation of Europe's missile companies began in 1996 when parts of Matra Defence and BAe Dynamics merged their missile activities to form Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD). Matra BAe Dynamics represented half of Matra Hautes Technologies' missile business; the other half was Matra Missiles which became Aérospatiale-Matra Missiles (AMM). In 1999, Matra group merged with Aérospatiale. In 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra became part of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) (now Airbus).[11]
In 1998, GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems and Alenia Difesa [it] combined their missile and radar activities to form Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS). In 1999, British Aerospace purchased GEC's defence business to form BAE Systems.[12]
In December 2001, MBD (including AMM) and the Missile and Missile Systems activities of AMS merged, creating MBDA.[13] In June 2005, LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH (LFK), a unit of Airbus Defence and Security Systems, agreed to be merged into MBDA. On 1 March 2006, LFK became MBDA Germany. On 9 May 2012, the LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH became MBDA Deutschland GmbH. 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. As AMS had R&D assets located in California, MBDA also managed to acquire development and production facilities in the United States, choosing to operate in the country as 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]
