Eric Béranger, the chief executive of Europe’s foremost missile manufacturer MBDA, suggested the group will be able to deliver weapon systems sourced from within Europe when the customer requires.
In a speech in Paris, covering the company’s activity over the last year and its future prospects, Béranger sketched a positive outlook in which MBDA serves as the rock on which Europe’s security will be built in the coming years of geopolitical uncertainty.
“MBDA stands as a pillar of the defence of Europe, ensuring that nations have the tools, autonomy, and industrial strength to safeguard their interests,” he said in his speech on 17 March 2025.
A new mentality
Over the last several weeks, US President Donald Trump’s agenda to put ‘America First’ has confronted Europe with a newfound mindset for self-sufficiency after 80-years of security reliance on the superpower.
Initially, the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unloaded Trump’s intentions to pull back its security support in Europe during the Ukraine Defence Contact Group held at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels in mid-February.
Days later, Vice President J. D Vance delivered an ideological rebuke against Europe at the Munich Security Conference, which demonstrated the distance between the current US government and its allies in their respective visions of a free and democratic world order.
Now, Europe is coming to terms with the reality that they need to cultivate an independent defence industry among what has been termed the “coalition of the willing” by the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
As part of this, MBDA will be at the centre of this transformation as the only European group offering a portfolio of sovereign capabilities. Dependence on US approval for the use of weapons under any circumstances will curtail European interests.
This was proven throughout 2024, when an offer of British and French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles to be fired deep inside Russian territory was blocked for months until it was too late.
Now, however, “every time our customers want us to be desensitised, we can do that,” Béranger intimated.
MBDA at the centre
The government-level is already putting defence sovereignty into practice. Earlier this month the European Commission announced its ‘ReArm Europe’ package, wherein the EU will allocate up to €800bn to ($872bn) to strategic autonomy.
This was preceded, in April 2024, by the EU’s inaugural Defence Industrial Strategy, in which the Union set targets to boost the continental defence industry over the longer term.
“We have all that we need in Europe. We have all the technological capabilities that we need. We have the brains,” he added. “It it is really a matter of what we want to do in Europe, what position we want to reach, and this is the reason why the moment is absolutely historic.”
In his speech, Béranger relayed some financials as evidence of the group’s capacity to deliver complex weapon systems to global users at an increasing rate:
In 2024, missile output increased by 33% compared to 2023; and by 2025, the group will have doubled production compared to 2023.
Key initiatives driving this acceleration include continuing to invest €2.4bn ($2.6bn) over the next five years (2025-2029) and a significant recruitment drive, with 2,500 new hires in 2024 and a target of 2,600 more in 2025.
Nevertheless, it appears MBDA is alone in its purported ability to secure components to its systems for European countries’ independent use.
