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Several European countries will jointly acquire MBDA’s Mistral 3 ground-based air defence system under a newly signed agreement.
France, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia and Hungary signed a letter of intent for the joint acquisition of the Mistral 3 ground-based air defence system with the multi-national European company on 19 June.
Led by the French Ministry for the Armed Forces with support from MBDA, French procurement agency Direction Générale de l’Armement will implement a joint acquisition of Mistral 3 on behalf of all the partner countries.
MBDA chief executive officer Eric Béranger said the agreement reinforces cooperation in the defence capabilities of the European Union and its member states.
“Cooperation is at the very heart of MBDA’s DNA, and I firmly believe that we are stronger together,” he said.
“This signature, and our plans to double Mistral annual production capacity, underlines the company’s continuous commitment to projects giving substance to the European defence agenda.”
Mistral 3, currently in service with the French Armed Forces, is able to engage low thermal signature targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles, turbojet-powered missiles and fast attack craft at long range using air defence missiles equipped with an infrared imaging seeker and advanced image processing capabilities.
Earlier this month, MBDA opened a missile engineering centre in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on 6 June.
The centre is expected to strengthen a long-term partnership between the UAE and MBDA for joint development of missile systems. It will be supported by a joint team of engineers from Tawazun Technology & Innovation and MBDA working on the next generation of smart weapons.
Robert Dougherty
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