MBDA

MBDA is a missile developer and manufacturer with operations in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was formed by a merger of French Aérospatiale-Matra Missiles (of EADS), Italian Alenia Marconi Systems (of Finmeccanica) and British Matra BAe Dynamics (of BAE Systems) in December 2001. In 2003 the company had 10,000 employees. In 2011, MBDA recorded a turnover of €3 bn, produced over 3,000 missiles and achieved an order book of €10.5 bn. MBDA works with over 90 armed forces worldwide.

History
The consolidation of Europe's missile companies began in 1996, when parts of Matra Defense 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). Then, Matra group merged with Aérospatiale in 1999. In 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra became part of EADS.

In 1998, GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems and Alenia Difesa combined their missile and radar activities to form Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS). In 1999 GEC-Marconi (renamed Marconi Electronic Systems) was sold to British Aerospace and became part of the merged company, BAE Systems.

In December 2001, MBD (including AMM) and the Missile and Missile Systems activities of AMS merged, creating MBDA. In June 2005, LFK, a unit of EADS 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 owns 40% of Inmize Sistemas S.L., a Spanish company which was formed to integrate the experience and technology of the major Spanish defense 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. In December 2011, MBDA Inc acquired the Viper Strike activity of Northrop Grumann in Huntsville, Alabama.

Products
Overall, the group has 45 products in service and 15 more in development. MBDA's products include:
 * Air-to-air missiles:
 * AIM-132 ASRAAM - short range, IR guided
 * Meteor - long range, active radar terminal homing
 * Mica - IR and radar guided versions (also SAM)
 * Surface-to-air missiles:
 * Mistral (also AAM)
 * Eurosam Aster - medium (Aster 15) and long range (Aster 30) SAMs land and naval versions
 * LFK NG (together with Diehl BGT Defence)
 * Aspide
 * Rapier / Jernas
 * Seawolf / CAMM - both land and naval versions
 * CAMM
 * Air-to-surface missiles:
 * Apache
 * Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG
 * AS-30L laser-guided missile
 * PGM 500 and PGM 2000 guided missiles
 * ASMPA - French nuclear missile
 * Laser-Guided Zuni
 * Diamond Back range extension kit for the SDB
 * Viper Strike
 * Anti-ship missiles:
 * Exocet (air-, surface ship-, coastal battery- and submarine-launched versions)
 * Otomat/Teseo
 * Marte (air-, surface ship- and coastal battery-launched versions)
 * FASGW/ANL
 * Anti-tank missiles:
 * MILAN
 * PARS 3 LR - long range (together with Diehl BGT Defence)
 * ERYX - short range
 * HOT
 * Systems
 * Spada
 * Eurosam SAMP/T
 * PAAMS missile system comprising:
 * UKAMS  PAAMS(S)
 * Eurosam PAAMS(E)
 * Eurosam SAAM-IT
 * Eurosam SAAM-FR
 * Next Generation Multiple Warhead System

Locations

 * Bourges
 * Selles-Saint-Denis
 * Le Plessis-Robinson
 * Le Plessis-Robinson


 * Schrobenhausen
 * Ulm
 * Aschau am Inn
 * Aschau am Inn


 * Fusaro, Naples
 * La Spezia
 * Rome
 * Rome


 * Filton, Bristol
 * Lostock, Bolton
 * Stevenage, Hertfordshire
 * London
 * London


 * Westlake Village, California
 * Washington, DC
 * Hunstville, Alabama
 * Hunstville, Alabama

Shareholders
As of March 2009 -
 * BAE Systems (37.5%)
 * EADS (37.5%)
 * Finmeccanica (25%)