Interview | Spokesperson, MBDA India

MBDA’s METEOR BVR missile

What are your current programmes with the Indian armed forces across the three services?

MBDA has been working in partnership with India to supply missile systems to the Indian armed forces and build them in development with Indian industry for over 50 years. To date we have manufactured over 50,000 missiles in India with Indian industry and supply missiles to all of India’s armed service branches. Our joint venture with Larsen and Toubro, L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd, is taking our partnership with India to the next level, setting up facilities in India and bidding on new ‘Make in India’ projects.

Today, we are providing the weapons package for India’s new Rafale fighter aircraft, including the game-changing long range Meteor missile, the SCALP stealthy deep strike cruise missile and the MICA air combat missile, which we are also providing for the IAF’s Mirage 2000. Similarly, our ASRAAM missile was selected as the IAF’s New Generation Close Combat Missile and is being delivered for Jaguar. Meanwhile, our Mistral ATAM system is fully integrated with India’s new LCH and ALH helicopters. For the Indian Navy, we also provide our Exocet SM39 missile for the new Kalvari-class submarines, while for the Indian Army, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) manufactures our MILAN missile in India.

What are the timelines for the delivery of weapons for Rafale?

We never comment on our customer’s delivery schedules.

Are you in conversation with HAL/ DRDO for LCA Tejas and AMCA? What about Light Combat Helicopter?

Yes, we’re proud that today our Mistral ATAM air-to-air missile system is fully integrated on both the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) of the Indian armed forces. We’re al