MBDA Opens Permanent Office in Brussels to Accelerate EU, NATO Defence Projects

MBDA inaugurated its new permanent office in Brussels on Tuesday, strengthening its multinational presence close to the institutions of the European Union (EU) and NATO to better support their initiatives towards more European defence co-operation.

The EU is making swift progress on enacting its ambitions for European Defence across its institutions. MBDA is leading on two missile system centric-projects developed under the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework - BLOS (Beyond Line Of Sight) and TWISTER (Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER surveillance). MBDA is also an active participant in a number of Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) and European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) initiatives, precursor programmes to the European Defence Fund (EDF), now into force, which will accelerate the collaborative development of new capability priorities and supplement national funding on topics with a European added-value.

NATO’s new 2030 strategic roadmap will strengthen its role as the central platform for transatlantic defence consultations. NATO demands are high in capability and interoperability terms. The set-up of collaborative frameworks, such as Modular Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD), will help shaping common requirements to satisfy operational needs and the perspective of new budgetary instruments focused on cutting-edge and disruptive technologies (NATO Innovation Fund and DIANA) are promising opportunities for an innovation-driven company like MBDA.