MBDA and the Arsenal of Democracy: A March 2024 Update

By Pierre Tran

Paris – MBDA seeks to build missiles faster and in larger numbers, while keeping costs under control, with client nations rebuilding weapon stocks in response to major world conflicts, Eric Béranger, chief executive of the European missile maker, said March 13.

“We see 2023 was an extraordinary year,” he told a news conference on the company’s 2023 financial results. “There is one fundamental change in the world…force is challenging international rights more and more.”

There was a “wake up call in 2022,” he said, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, followed by “dramatic events in the Middle East” in 2023, with clients requiring greater speed of delivery and higher volume in the company’s range of missiles.

Much of that surge in demand came from nations within Europe, besides the partner nations of MBDA, a joint venture held by Airbus (37.5 pct), BAE Systems (37.5 pct), and Leonardo (25 pct), with greater industrial cooperation with Sweden and Poland.

The far-reaching changes could be seen in 2023 with the U.K.’s urgent operational requirement, followed by France, to fit the Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missile on “aircraft never made for this,” he said. The weapon integration was in weeks, rather than years as in previous times, he added.

That arming, authorized by London and Paris for Ukraine’s 24 fighter jets, marked a big policy shift, at a time when Washington and Berlin declined to send over respectively the Army Tactical Missile System and Taurus, François Heisbourg, an analyst, told March 12 the Anglo-American Press Association, a press club.

The Pentagon will send $300 million of weapons to Ukraine, having found cost savings in contracts, the AP wire service reported March 12. That would be the first U.S. arms delivery to Kyiv since December, following the Republican party blocking some $60 billion of military support for Ukraine in Congress.

Under Pressure

There was “huge pressure” from clients, seeking “acceleration” in shipping weapons, while remaining “affordable,” Béranger said. The French defense minister last week made a request which pointed up the need for speed, to renew French stocks of missiles and help Kyiv.

The minister, Sébastien Lecornu, told March 8 news channel BFMTV he had confirmed with MBDA an order for more than 200 Aster missiles – some to go to the French forces and some to Ukraine – and the company would be paid just as soon as the weapons were delivered.

It took some 42 months to build the Aster before 2022, the MBDA chief executive said, as the missile entered production in the time of the “peace dividend.” The company aimed to cut that lead time to delivery to below 18 months in 2026, and was making progress, he added.

Asked about Aster anti-air missiles, with a unit price of some €1 million, used to shoot down drones worth a few thousand and used by Houthi forces to hit commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Béranger said there have been media reports of two responses, namely the cost of defense compared to the cost of attack, and the defense cost and cost of the ship protected.

The top executive said he had a personal view, but he declined to comment.

The Aster arms French frigates and the army’s SAMP/T ground based air defense system.

MBDA is boosting production following hefty orders last year, such as those from Italy and Poland for the common anti-air system (CAMM) and its extended range (ER) version.

Poland’s order for its Pilica+ air defense system was the largest foreign deal last year, worth more than €2 billion, followed by a French order for Aster, the MBDA executive said.

Air defense missiles accounted for some 70 percent of 2023 orders, and orders from European nations accounted for 76 percent, he said. Those were nations in Europe besides the key partner nations of MBDA, namely Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The new schedule varied between the missiles and the company has speeded up production of the short-range Mistral compared to the Aster, he said.

“This is a fact,” he said. “But we’re on it.”

Work In Progress

There are clear targets for the Mistral, with four times to be more built per month, and the lead time for production cut by almost half, he said. The target for CAMM was to triple the monthly production, while the target for Aster was to increase production rate by almost 50 percent, and cut the lead time by around two.

“This is work in progress,” he said.

Series production of the Enforcer, a man-portable missile, started at the end of 2023 in Germany, and the target was a “four digit” number by 2026, he said. The company was on track to boost production of the Akeron land and naval weapon by 2.5 and improve the lead time by 40 percent.

MBDA plans to invest more than €2.4 billion in factories and toolsets over the next five years to boost production, he said. Some €1 billion of that would be invested in France, and more than €500 million in the U.K.

To increase production, he said, the company was doubling capacity in Bolton, near Manchester in northern England, which was “a very important investment,” building a second assembly line in Italy to build the CAMM, doubling the size of its assembly line in France, and building a new factory in Germany to assemble the Patriot missile through Comlog, its joint venture with Raytheon.

The company started to increase availability of key stocks of raw material in the Covid crisis, and speeded that up in response to the assault on Ukraine in 2022 ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

MBDA is increasing stocks to 80 tons of “specific special irons” needed for missiles, compared to the present four to five tons, he said. Stocks of titanium have increased to allow building several thousand missiles and more electronic components are also being stockpiled.

Béranger welcomed the March 5 publication of the European Defence Industrial Study by the European Commission, which he saw as opening up opportunities for cooperation not just among the 27 E.U. member states, but also the U.K. as a European nation on geographic terms, even though London had bailed out of the E.U. in the Brexit move.

Béranger said he joined MBDA just less than five years ago, and the company was not the same since his arrival. Just in the figures alone, he said, the order book had risen by half, sales were up 40 percent, and staff had grown 30 percent.

The 2023 order book stood at an all time high of €28 billion, he said, with that backlog split 50/50 between the domestic market, namely Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and export deals.

The 2022 order book was €22.3 billion.

The 2023 orders were €9.9 billion, up 10 percent from the previous year.

Sales last year rose to €4.5 billion, up from €4.2 billion in 2022. The company planned to recruit 2,600 staff this year.

Béranger declined to give profit figures, nor whether profit growth had been in single or double digits.

French Strategy Switch

The row among allies sparked by French president Emmanuel Macron at the end of February on the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine was a change in tone rather than strategy, Heisbourg told the AAPA press club.

The French switch in strategy took place last June-July, he said, with Paris accepting the long term security of Ukraine lay in joining Nato, and giving the green light for sending over initially the Storm Shadow, then Scalp, cruise missile.

“That was the first time, when in the field of military support, European countries essentially broke ranks with Washington,” he said. “That, in turn, helped produce the only strategic breakthrough which Ukraine got in 2023.”

Those weapons allowed Ukraine to break the Russian naval blockade in the western part of the Black Sea, he said, and gave access to international markets and ship some 23 million tons of grain. That helped the Ukrainian economy and helped nations in Africa and the Middle East.

On relations between France and the U.K., there was a paradox, he said.

“French-British defense industrial cooperation overall is doing very well,” he said, as there was “true defense integration (in) the missile house MBDA…an integrated Franco-British firm with Italian and German stakeholders and shareholders.”

The missile company was working despite Brexit, and the same could be seen with a French defense electronics company, Thales, he said.

“Thales is one of big players in the U.K.,” he said.

“If only the U.K. were part of the European Union, things would be much easier,” he said. “But unfortunately that is not very much in France’s hands, and I do not see the Brits changing their minds about Brexit any time soon.”

Between the two countries there was a similar military culture, similar attitudes toward the defense industry, and a vision of balance between export and domestic markets, he said.

“Britain is quasi-absent in the big European debate which has been opened by the competing ambition by (German chancellor Olaf) Scholz and Macron – and Macron’s assertiveness in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“Britain has self isolated itself,” he said. “It is sad, it is not logical, but it is very real.

“I simply hope we will soon have a British government which will be in a position to project itself in the long term future rather than acting as if it were inevitable.”

With a U.K. general election due to be held in the next 12 months, there appeared little the present government could do, he said.

Featured Image: Credit: MBDA

MBDA held its annual press conference on 13 March. The company’s CEO shared the Group results for 2023 together with some insight into tackling future challenges in the face of growing demand in a complex international context. 

Capstone 4

03/15/2024

Project Convergence – Capstone 4 is a Joint and Multinational force experiment taking place at Camp Pendleton, California and the National Training Center throughout the months of February and March 2024. PC-C4 provides a critical venue to transform the Army,

The focus is on force mobility.

CAMP PENDLETON, CA
02.15.2024
Video by Sgt. Maxwell Bass
24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

2024 Cobra Gold Port Operations

03/13/2024

Control Team conduct port operations in support of Cobra Gold 2024 in Sattahip, Thailand. This is the first time a reserve ESC has led the port operations side of the mission.

Exercise Cobra Gold, to be conducted from late February to mid March in Thailand, will be the 43rd iteration of the world’s longest-running multilateral military training program, one of the Indo-Pacific’s largest combined exercises. More than 10,000 troops from 30 nations are expected to participate.

02.20.2024
Courtesy Video
79th Theater Sustainment Command

The US Navy Adds to its Kill Web Capability: The Triton Comes to Italy

03/11/2024

By Robbin Laird

The Triton is a key member of the Navy, joint and allied forces shaping a kill web maritime force.

It is so important in my view for the maritime forces that I put a graphic highlighting the Triton coming to the Royal Australian Air Force.

Yes RAAF!

For a maritime kill web is not just about ships: it is about the integrated distributed multi-domain force which can operate throughout the global maritime domain.

As Ed Timperlake and I argued in our book entitled, A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making:

While the P-8 can operate with autonomy and network-ability, the Triton is a network-generating, network-enabling asset. The vast amounts of data provided by Triton is requiring the Navy and the joint force to rework how to handle data flows from the unmanned asset to gain combat advantages.

Put another way, traditional methods of handling data are not adequate to manage properly such massive amounts of information.

In fact, learning how to manage data from Triton has been a key driver for change in how to redesign the ISR to C2 empowerment systems, which the U.S. Navy seeks to execute for distributed maritime operations.

We also discussed the allied aspect as well.

In one of our 2020 interviews with him, Rear Adm. Peter Garvin, head of the Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Force, provided a very clear perspective on how this was happening in his domain.

The Australians and possibly other allies are acquiring or working with Triton as well.

As Garvin noted: “These relationships serve as force multipliers, which opens the door to cooperatively leverage technology to deliver networked sensors and a shared understanding of the decisions and options we share across the extended battlespace.

“Our allies understand the fundamental nature of their region better than we do. If you have properly maintained these important working relationships, both interpersonal and technological, then you will have access to the cultural knowledge and human geography that might otherwise would not be available to you.

“We become stronger interactively with our allies by sharing domain knowledge to operate across a wider geographical area. In effect, we are shaping kill web “matesmanship.”

The Navy has already forward deployed Triton to the Pacific and now it has done so in Europe.

As a March 2, 2024 Navy story highlights this development:

Unmanned Patrol Squadron (VUP) 19 “Big Red,” held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the inaugural deployment of its second forward-deployed detachment and the opening of a new MQ-4C Triton hangar at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, March 2, 2024.

“This ceremony demonstrates Naval Aviation’s continuing efforts to develop new concepts and technologies, and integrate them efficiently into the Fleet,” said Vice Adm. Daniel “Undra” Cheever, Commander, Naval Air Forces.

“The MQ-4C Triton will be an essential platform for the future of maritime patrol and reconnaissance, with advanced warfighting technology to put more players on the field.”

Leading up to the ceremony, Rear Adm. Adam Kijek, Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, also toured the hangar and held a separate All Hands Call with VUP-19 Sailors, who showcased the MQ-4C Triton, the Navy’s newest Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Maritime Patrol asset.

“We are excited to honor the legacy of ‘Big Red’ with our newest detachment here in Sigonella,” said Lt. Cmdr. Cory Solis, officer-in-charge, VUP-19 Sigonella.

“My team has been working extremely hard to stand up this detachment, so to witness them overcome so many barriers and participate in this ribbon cutting ceremony is a major victory for all of us.”

VUP-19 is the first and only unmanned patrol squadron and will set a baseline for training Sailors and officers on the tactics, techniques and procedures of operating the MQ-4C Triton for future warfighting.

“We are happy to have VUP-19 on deck and look forward to supporting the squadron as it strengthens the Fleet’s readiness and capability in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations,” said Capt. Aaron Shoemaker, commanding officer, NAS Sigonella. “

The addition of the Triton to Sigonella’s unmanned systems capabilities is also a strategic win because it augments the capabilities of our P-8 Poseidon detachments to provide broad area, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting capabilities.”

While the Sigonella detachment is VUP-19’s newest addition, the squadron can date its modest beginnings to Reserve Patrol Squadron 907, which was established July 4, 1946. After many re-designations, VUP-19 as it is known today, was officially established Oct. 1, 2013 and later commissioned Oct. 28, 2016.

VUP-19 is currently homeported in Florida at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport, with a detachment at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Naval Air Station Sigonella provides consolidated operational, command and control, administrative, logistical and advanced logistical support to U.S. and other NATO forces.

The installation’s strategic location enables U.S., allied, and partner nation forces to deploy and respond as required, ensuring security and stability in Europe, Africa and Central Command.1

And this effort adds to the critical capability which is already operating from Sigonella and has already contributed to NATO’s defense in a time of the conflict in Ukraine.

It can be forgotten that NATO has built and is operating its own squadron of Global Hawks which have been very active in European defense.

As I noted in a 2022 article by NATO’s AGS force:

One aspect of the run up to Ukraine crisis 2022 has been virtually ignored.

Unlike earlier NATO crises, in this one European NATO states have access to their own overhead intelligence means of high quality.

In addition to commercially available satellite imagery, French-driven European partner capabilities and the now functioning NATO AGS system are key providers for intelligence independent from the United States.

The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system was IOCd on February 15, 2021.

According to NATO:

“NATO is acquiring the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system, which will give commanders a comprehensive picture of the situation on the ground. A group of 15 Allies is procuring the AGS system comprised of five NATO RQ-4D Phoenix remotely piloted aircraft and the associated European-sourced ground command and control stations.

“NATO will then operate and maintain them on behalf of all NATO Allies. The AGS NATO RQ-4D aircraft is based on the US Air Force Block 40 Global Hawk. It has been uniquely adapted to NATO requirements to provide a state-of-the-art Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability to NATO.”2

And another NATO piece highlights who is getting access to this high-grade intelligence,

“The AGS system is being acquired by 15 Allies (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States), and will be made available to the Alliance in the 2017-2018 timeframe.

“All Allies will contribute to the development of the AGS capability through financial contributions covering the establishment of the AGS Main Operating Base, as well as to communications and life-cycle support of the AGS fleet. Some Allies will replace part of their financial contribution through ‘contributions-in-kind’ (national surveillance systems that will be made available to NATO).

“The NATO-owned and operated AGS core capability will enable the Alliance to perform persistent surveillance over wide areas from high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft, operating at considerable stand-off distances and in any weather or light condition.

“Using advanced radar sensors, these systems will continuously detect and track moving objects throughout observed areas and will provide radar imagery of areas of interest and stationary objects.

“The main operating base for AGS will be located at Sigonella Air Base in Italy, which will serve as a NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (JISR) deployment base and data exploitation centre.”3

1 Petty Officer 2nd Class Kelsey Culbertson, “VUP-19 Welcomed to NAS Sigonella, Celebrates New MQ-4C Triton Hanger,” DVIDS (March 2, 2024).

2 https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_48892.htm

3 https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_07/20160627_1607-factsheet-ags-en.pdf

Red Flag Nellis 24-1

The 510th Fighter and Fighter Generation Squadrons participated in Red Flag 24-1 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Jan 15-26, 2024. Red Flag Nellis provided realistic training that imitates the pacing threat’s investment in hypersonics, artificial intelligence and counter space capabilities, which allowed Airmen real-time war scenarios to test their readiness capabilities.

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NV,
01.24.2024
Video by Staff Sgt. Heather Ley
31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

The Coming of Maritime Autonomous Systems: A New Book for 2024

03/10/2024

By LtGen Steve Rudder (Retired)

The Ukraine employment of Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) in attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet represents a window into the lethality of swarming and autonomous unmanned surface vessels. Because of their small radar cross-section, high speed, and agile maneuverability, USVs are likely going to change the face of Naval Warfare.

Dr. Robbin Laird has been leading the reporting on Unmanned Systems and Kill Webs for many years and has been producing forward thinking pieces on the evolution of autonomy.

At each achievement, whether it be Ukraine, TF-59 in the Arabian Gulf, or the Australian Defense Force, his articles and books have provided a window into the future dominance of autonomous maritime systems and the journey into the Kill Web.

The combination of air and surface unmanned capabilities is ripe for the maritime environment where nations do not have large Navies or Air Forces to secure their heavily trafficked Economic Exclusion Zones.

For the United States there are similar requirements where wargaming between the PLA and U.S. Navy exemplifies attrition warfare at its best. Compounding the U.S. problem is that weapons and shipbuilding timelines are not keeping pace with the growth of the PLA Navy and their shore based anti-ship capabilities.

However, this competitive premise is only based on capitol ship production of surface combatants, aircraft carriers, and submarines. Robbin points out that the asymmetric advantage of swarming USVs and loitering munitions are becoming well documented in the Ukrainian conflict and could provide an asymmetric advantage for U.S. maritime forces.

Autonomous USVs offer a number of advantages over regular manned vessels which make them attractive to many countries that have been developing or experimenting with them in recent years.

In the Asia pacific, allies and partners are looking at USVs and UAVs to solve the maritime domain awareness gaps.

For Japan, the Miyako Strait and Bashi Channel are positioned along what military strategists refer to as the “first island chain” stretching from the Japanese archipelago through Taiwan to the Philippines.  The Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea administered by Japan. From Gray zone activities, PLA Coast Guard, and PLA Navy incursions these areas present a significant concern to the Japanese.

This expanse of islands also represents just one of the many contested areas the U.S. Navy will have to fight its way into should conflict occur. Notably, the distance between Taiwan and Japan’s Yonaguni Island is only 70 miles. Unmanned craft operating in and around the Japanese island chain could be employed to provide early warning, local security, and contested logistics.

Robbin’s book lets us imagine what a “wolfpack” of autonomous USVs might look like in and around these maritime choke points.

To date, the U.S. has limited experience in this rapidly evolving area. The Navy has invested heavily with a strategic plan to acquire medium, large and extra-large “unmanned vehicles” to operate both on the surface and underwater, but relatively little effort on small and very small USVs.

The Navy and Marine Corps also face a major problem of coming to terms with how to use a kill web of USV and UAVs. As speed and response time provide the physical attributes of unmanned maneuver and fire, USV lethality options come in many different categories from providing targeting solutions for joint weapons to being a weapon itself as in Ukraine.

The book highlights the ability for unmanned craft to operate as a lethal system integrated with the fleets. USVs operating at speeds of 100 knots would have great affect with the Switchblade loitering munition, Naval Strike Missiles and/or torpedoes. Large numbers of networked maritime USVs would be very difficult to detect and equally as difficult to fire upon with today’s defense systems

Although the potential for lethal operations for USVs is impressive, it is also about the full spectrum of operations from ISR, Personnel Recovery, and Logistics. For each maritime problem around the world, there are simply not enough ships or aircraft for persistent domain awareness. We will not in the foreseeable future have the capacity to put capital assets continually forward to fill that gap. UAVs and USVs, notably working together, can fill such a gap cost effectively.

Another key attribute Robbin brings up is that USVs can operate from multiple port location ranging from large commercial ports to distributed remote shore locations.

He also introduces the reader to the “Mothership.” Rather than large capitol ships fighting each other, a mother ship could deploy multiple high speed unmanned craft able to swiftly attack large, slow, vulnerable surface ships. The obvious choice for the mothership concept would the LCS, ESB, or LPD. Already the launching platform for aviation and amphibious capabilities, Robbin’s research highlights these as untapped resources for the inclusion of large numbers of maritime USV and UAVs.

The evolution of UAVs and USVs operating within a mesh network would give naval forces new capabilities to execute their maritime mission. Solving the question of how to best use such capabilities should not hinder or delay necessary innovation and implementation.

As TF59 and Naval Unmanned Exercise Forces around the world demonstrate through experimentation, USV technology is available today. Capabilities already exist to build such a network which suggests the ability to rapidly field UAV-USV teams to the fleet.

The reader of Robbin’s book should walk away with a sense of how autonomous maritime systems are changing how we think about Naval Warfare.

LtGen Rudder (ret) serves as the President of Stick Rudder Enterprises specializing in aerospace and defense consulting for domestic and international markets.

He also serves as a Senior Defense Fellow for the Atlantic Council and supports the U.S. Taiwan Business Council with industry visits to Taiwan focused on defense partnerships.

He retired after 38 years as the Commanding General, Marine Forces Pacific. He Commanded 1st Marine Air Wing in Japan and was Director of Policy and Plans for INDOPACOM.

Before assuming command of Marine Forces Pacific, he served as the Deputy Commandant for Aviation where he managed all Marine Aviation aircraft procurement and sustainment programs.

With over 5000 hours in multiple aircraft and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross in combat, he uses his operational and program experience to serve U.S. Defense Companies and International Partners.