MBDA-UK MoD Renew Strategic Partnership with a New Portfolio Management Agreement

MBDA and UK’s ministry of defence have renewed their strategic partnership with a renewed Portfolio Management Agreement, known as PMA2 and worth at least GBP6.5 billion. The agreement will deliver battle winning complex weapons to the UK armed forces faster, at lower cost and with greater agility. PMA2 will also support British jobs, skills and industrial investment.

On PMA2, CEO, MBDA, said: “PMA2 underlines the excellent work done by our colleagues to innovatively support the UK, acting as both a key sovereign national champion and as a conduit for international co-operation across our group and worldwide.” Managing director, MBDA, UK, Chris Allam added: “Renewing the MoD-MBDA partnership for a further decade underscores our role as a critical national asset supporting UK Defence. PMA2 will build upon the many successes of the past decade while delivering enhanced value, speed and agility for the UK armed forces and enabling better collaboration with our allies across Europe.”

The new agreement confirms MBDA as the MoD’s preferred supplier of complex weapons. Its framework will drive a further GBP 2 billion in benefits and efficiencies while enhancing current capabilities. The new agreement is also anticipated to deliver new systems such as the Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW), Land Precision Strike and continue the evolution of Meteor.

The PMA2 incorporates a decade of learning into the running of the complex weapons portfolio. It includes a number of measures to enhance performance including, improved commercial agreements, acceleration of procurement processes and enabling ‘always-on’ manufacturing. It will hold industry at a high state of readiness to respond to the demands of defence.

The original PMA secured a strong and innovative British industrial base. While providing the UK with the freedom of action to respond to conflicts on its own terms, the original PMA also produced confirmed savings of GBP 2.6 billion. With the UK seen as a strong partner, the original PMA also supported international collaborations and saw UK exports grow by 6.5 times.

Today more than 5,500 people work at MBDA UK sites in the North-West, East and the South-West of England, nearly doubling the workforce since 2010. MBDA’s work also supports thousands of further jobs in the eco-system of its UK’s supply chain. The value of the PMA model has enabled MBDA to invest over GBP 550 million in the UK, including a new manufacturing site in Bolton. PMA2 will see a further GBP 500 million of MBDA investment in British manufacturing and technologies.

MBDA has made rapid advances to its Orchestrike collaborative weapons artificial intelligence (AI) over the past 12 months and can announce the SPEAR family of weapons will be the first cruise missiles to feature AI-enhanced collaboration, while keeping a human operator in the loop.

Said CEO, MBDA, Eric Beranger: “Being at the forefront of innovation in AI highlights how MBDA has unique technologies and expertise in Europe for delivering the decisive air domain missile capabilities to enable our armed forces to defend our values and freedoms.”

Orchestrike will enhance the performance of SPEAR missiles via AI-driven co-ordination, collaboration and co-operation between the missiles and the pilot controlling them from the launch aircraft. Orchestrike will enable SPEAR missiles to react to threats and work together with the pilot to solve tactical challenges, increasing both missile and platform survivability and overall mission performance. The missiles will only ever operate within the boundaries of operator input, ensuring legal and ethical utilisation at all times.

Since it was unveiled at Paris Air Show 2023, MBDA has rapidly developed Orchestrike from concept towards capability in twelve months. In particular, work has focused on refining the AI algorithms, advancing missile-to-missile datalinks, and on integrating both elements together and into SPEAR to enhance the already world-leading capabilities of the cruise missile weapon system.

Orchestrike showcases how MBDA is collaboratively investing across our nations to meet the needs of our customers. It also demonstrates the ability of the company to innovate, bring capabilities to service quickly and then update spirally.

SPEAR is a family of network-enabled cruise missiles developed by MBDA to meet the need of air forces to defeat and supress enemy air defences by striking moving targets in all weathers, at stand-off ranges. They feature all the advanced features of a cruise missile, including advanced mission planning and the ability to perform complex missions at long ranges, while being of a revolutionarily small size–with a single F-35 able to carry eight SPEAR missiles within its weapon bays.

In the future, Orchestrike can be extended to other munitions with network-enabled datalink capabilities.