By Sangeeta Saxena
Bangkok. 04 September 2022. The story of MBDA in Thai Armed Forces is not new. HTMS Chakri Naruebet (911) the flagship of Royal Thai Navy and the kingdom’s only aircraft carrier is fitted with MBDA’s Mistral missiles since 1997. The upgraded Pattani-class offshore patrol vessels, include the MBDA MM40 Exocet Block 3 anti-ship missiles.
And the story does not end here. The Royal Thai Army’s (RTA) Air Defence Command replaced its Spada surface-to-air missiles (SAM), which had been in service for more than 20 years, by a ground-based version of MBDA’s VL MICA.
The European missile major was showcasing its missiles to the host Thailand and the other South East Asian nations present at the Defense & Security 2022 at Bangkok.
MBDA values both its strong historical culture of “internal” innovation, and that which is developed “externally” by its current and future potential partners ranging from large industrial companies and research institutions to SMEs and academia), as well as our essential partners in the innovative process, our customers.
“In MBDA, we are not a ‘closed shop’ to innovation and welcome the involvement of our customers, suppliers, SMEs, laboratories, institutes and universities as our partners in innovation, ” says Éric Béranger, MBDA’s Chief Executive Office. MBDA is engaged in an “open innovation” approach, both “inbound” (mobilizing knowledge, methods and technologies existing outside of the company) and “outbound” (mobilizing innovation existing inside the company).
“We use divers mechanisms to build sustainable partnerships according to the variety of our partners and to enable a balanced funding of investment in innovation. We also rely on a strong partnership with our customers in order to direct, support and facilitate the innovative approaches developed within the company and with its variable partners,” he said on his statement on the official site.
MBDA has developed a global scheme for partnering with innovating SMEs. This initiative called “E3” (“E-cube”) is structured around 3 axis:
Explore: Screening, targeting and tracking SMEs that will bring disruptive technologies and innovations
Engage: Defining and implementing a strategic engagement with the key innovative SMEs to optimize maturation & exploitation of technologies
Endure: Maintaining a community of innovating SMEs by caring about their sustainable development and conciliating the long duration cycles of the defence business with the short term needs and constraints of SMEs
This policy aims at reinforcing MBDA’s ability to innovate with its partners in an agile and sustainable manner, while taking its responsibilities in developing the Defence Technological and Industrial Base in its domestic countries.
MBDA utilizes export control measures to prevent supply of strategic products, software or technologies to countries or people representing a risk of terrorism, diversion or proliferation or any other risk in terms of national security while facilitating communication of products, software and technologies to allied or friendly countries. MBDA is committed to comply with the export control laws and regulations established by:
- The UK, French, Italian, German and Spanish national governments
- The European Union
- The US Authorities – International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
- Any restrictions resulting from end-user commitments on MBDA
