The 13th Paris Air Forum was organised by La Tribune on 12 June. It brought together more than 2,000 people and about 100 speakers to discuss geopolitical, technological and industrial challenges facing Europe.
Béranger said the security environment had changed sharply because of high-intensity conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. He said MBDA’s response is based on accelerating industrial ramp-up and developing a new “smart mass” capability.
“The world has changed; it is indisputable. We are witnessing a return to brutal force,” Béranger said.
“It is an increasingly unstable world. After 30 years of underinvestment in defence, European states are engaged in a massive rearmament wave,” he said.
MBDA said its objective is to provide customers and partners with the capabilities needed to meet current and future challenges. The company said this requires both higher production output and new effectors adapted to changing operational requirements.
Since 2023, MBDA has carried out a major transformation of its industrial infrastructure to support European rearmament efforts. Between 2023 and 2025, the company said it doubled missile production.
In 2026, MBDA aims to increase production by 40% compared with 2025. To sustain higher production rates, the company has doubled its investment plan and intends to spend 5 billion euros between 2026 and 2030.
The company is also creating a new production site near Orléans. The site will add to existing capabilities in the Centre-Val de Loire region and is expected to become operational in 2027.
“This project will enable MBDA to have a first operational industrial capacity as early as 2027. It constitutes a major lever to meet current and future production challenges,” Béranger said.
“This new site will contribute to achieving our objective of multiplying missile production in France by six between 2023 and 2030,” he said. MBDA said the facility will support the acceleration of several strategic programmes.
The company is also preparing for future operational needs through the development of “smart mass”. MBDA described this as a capability based on new cooperation between major defence industrial groups, civilian organisations and innovative companies.
The approach is intended to provide forces with high-value decision-making weapons and new saturation effectors. MBDA said these systems would be complementary and capable of being produced and deployed at scale to address the full spectrum of threats.
One example is the ONE WAY EFFECTOR, described by MBDA as a long-range munition intended to saturate enemy defences. The system has been nicknamed the “French Shahed”.
MBDA also cited its partnership with Alta Ares, a French DefTech startup. The cooperation is taking place within the Innovative Partnership ELISA framework launched by the DGA in April 2026.
The partnership combines Alta Ares’ X-Lock and Blackbird interceptor drones with MBDA’s weapons system expertise. Its objective is to provide French and European armed forces with a credible, rapid and sovereign response to the drone threat through mass, low-cost solutions.
MBDA said it is strengthening both its industrial footprint and its ability to prepare for future threats. The company said this includes building a resilient European value chain and adapting its product portfolio.
“Our investments are not only focused on production but also on preparing for the future and anticipating the evolution of threats. One guiding principle: anticipate! And that is what we are doing,” Béranger said.
MBDA said it is introducing a modular, evolvable and sovereign “smart mass” capability through a new form of cooperation with a dual ecosystem. The company said this is intended to support the transition from a peacetime regime to a crisis regime and help adapt to changing threats and force requirements.
