MBDA's MICA Missile on the wing tip (Photograph © Michel Hans)
MBDA, a world leader in missiles and missile systems, is the first truly integrated European defence company. With 10,000 employees spread over industrial facilities in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the United States, it produces missiles and missile systems for all three wings of the military: the army, navy and air force. It currently works with the armed forces of 90 nations, including India, and has an annual turnover of three billion Euros.
Mati Hindrekus, Head of MBDA’s Marketing Communications
Mati Hindrekus, the Head of MBDA’s Marketing Communications believes the company has a special relationship with India. In an exclusive interview with Ramananda Sengupta just before Aero India 2013, Hindrekus elaborates on this relationship, and explains why the 40-year-old partnership is growing stronger with every passing year.
As Europe’s leading Missile Systems Company, MBDA has been involved with India for a while now. How would you describe the relationship, and where do you see it going?
Yes you’re right, MBDA’s involvement with India goes back a long time, some 40 years I’m proud to say. Over this time I believe we have established a very firm relationship based on trust and understanding and of course on technology. For this reason we have always considered India as being very special and important to MBDA’s business strategy. Looking beyond the products and operational capabilities that MBDA provides, we have identified cooperation and partnership as the two areas where MBDA is particularly strong. With our history in India, clearly it is the country where we can best advance these two aspects. That’s where we see the relationship going, towards ever deeper partnerships, sharing and transferring technology where and when feasible, even combined project teams working on future programmes together.
What are the new MBDA products we can hope to see at Aero-India 2013?
We’ll be concentrating on demonstrating how MBDA can best meet the multi-role needs of today’s modern air forces. So there will be strong emphasis on products like ASRAAM, MICA, Meteor, Dual Mode Brimstone, SCALP/Storm Shadow and Taurus.
EXOCET AM39 and MICA on Rafale
For the air-launched anti-ship mission, Exocet AM39 has been evolved recently to better conform to the digital interfaces of the latest generation of combat platforms like the Rafale. For the same role we are also proposing Marte ER, a new, longer range version of the in-service Marte Mk2/S missile. Both these products will be on display on the MBDA stand. Dual Mode Brimstone (DMB) will also be on view with information on how this combat-tested weapon, normally associated with its effectiveness against a range of static and fast moving ground targets, has also been proving its unerring precision against FIACs (Fast Inshore attack Craft). For many countries with sensitive coastal operations to consider, such fast inshore craft have become a new and major concern so DMB has been raising interest around the world.
Are there any new joint ventures in the pipeline? If yes, what is their status? (for instance, has the MICA been finalised for the Rafale? and what about the Fire Shadow, ASTER 30, the Mistral MANPADS system for India’s Short Range Air Defense Systems and the PARS 3 LR anti-armour weapon ?)
We have yet to formalize a joint venture though discussions are ongoing. Of course we do have strong links with a number of partners, indeed one of these has developed a special twin launcher for the PARS 3 LR which is being proposed as the air-to-ground weapon for the ALH Dhruv.
MICA has been ordered as part of the IAF’s planned upgrade of their fleet of Mirage combat aircraft. Regarding Rafale, we are discussing a full range of capabilities to optimize this aircraft’s multi-role performance. As you know, the Rafale contract has yet to be signed so of course it is too early to talk about finalizing the weapons that the IAF might require.
With Fire Shadow we are ready to offer India a solution to its loitering munition requirement. It is a weapon that we have developed for the British Army, one that has proven its capabilities very successfullyover a number of firings against both static and fast moving targets.
MBDA Aster
Aster 30 represents MBDA’s technology leadership in the area of surface to air capability. The same can be said for Mistral MANPADS system which we are proposing for India’s VSHORAD requirement. Mistral MANPADS is a true man-portable system, designed from the onset as a tripod mounted system capable of easy handling, easy transport and rapid deployment and reloading. Importantly the Mistral missile is fire-and-forget, a crucial feature in handling the kind of threat within the limited timescales to be expected in the VSHORAD domain.
PARS 3 LR has the capability of adding a significant ground strike potency to helicopters such as the ALH Dhruv. It has the major advantage of salvo mode operation at stand-off ranges. Also, being fire-and-forget, the pilot can break off and not remain in the danger zone.
How deeply is MBDA involved with India’s MMRCA project, and with the Mirage/Jaguar upgrades?
MMRCA calls for a weapons suite that optimizes its designed purpose of fulfilling the wide range of combat roles that will be demanded of its future pilots. These will cover everything from short to beyond visual range combat for air supremacy as well as precision ground strike. MBDA’s product range includes the very products, the best in class, that cover these multiple roles. These products are being actively discussed with the IAF.
What are the other joint production ventures which we might see in the future?
It is too early to talk about joint production ventures at this stage. As I have already indicated, partnership with India is the keynote to MBDA’s international strategy and has been so for quite some time. India is a very dynamic country and the whole nature of its public and particularly its private sectors is evolving very quickly, particularly in the area of advanced technology where MBDA specializes. We are already in touch with a number of concerns, small and large, where such ventures could well occur in the not too distant future.
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