Following additional orders placed by France, Italy and the United Kingdom, MBDA is accelerating its production rate for Aster missiles in order to meet demand from these three countries, as well as from export markets, with delivery times now a key criterion for prospects and customers.
MBDA press release
On 23 July 2025, MBDA delivered the first batch of ASTER missiles less than two and a half years since the order was placed as part of a joint acquisition led by OCCAR with Eurosam, the Franco-Italian joint venture of MBDA and Thales.
This acquisition, launched in December 2022, is a cooperation between France and Italy, and supplemented by a further order in February 2025, aiming to strengthen air defence systems of European countries with the production of nearly 1,000 ASTER missiles for the armed forces of Italy, the United Kingdom and France.
The accelerated production of this first batch of missiles is a first step towards the schedule acceleration underway. It is the result of the investments and the actions taken by the MBDA Group, with its customers and partners, to meet the challenges of increasing production.The delivery confirms MBDA’s ability to meet its commitment to reducing the production lead-time of ASTER missiles in 2026 by more than half compared to 2022, and deliver five times more ASTER missiles than originally planned in 2025.
“The delivery of the first ASTER missiles that benefited from significantly reduced production times is a success for all MBDA teams. I thank them for their ongoing efforts, as well as the industrial partners and State actors involved. It demonstrates our commitment to working alongside our customers to ensure the ramp-up of our industrial facilities and the strengthening of our defence industrial and technological base. This acceleration will provide Italian, French and British armed forces with essential air defence systems to protect European skies, as demonstrated by the use of ASTER in the Red Sea and Ukraine, and increase NATO’s defence capabilities.”
Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA
MBDA introduced measures to ramp-up production as early as 2024 to accelerate delivery of missiles already ordered. These measures were formalized in February 2025 through the order of additional ASTER missiles for France, Italy and the UK.
The Group has underpinned its ramp-up efforts, through investment, in particular in its production facilities in Bourges and Selles-Saint-Denis in France and in Fusaro in Italy. It has significantly recruited, built up raw material and component stocks, and supported its entire value chain in Europe.
Between 2023 and 2025, MBDA will have doubled the production of new missiles for the Group as a whole and will continue to invest €2.4 billion between 2025 and 2029 to ensure the ramp-up of production over the coming years.
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Naval News comment
Following the war in Ukraine and crisis in the Red Sea, the Aster missile has been a primary focus among end-users who whish to replenish their stockpiles and reinforce their surface-to-air capability. Indeed, Asters were fired several time by the three navies to neutralize air-threat like UAVs and ballistic missiles. Also, production rate for such complex missile was quite important and needed to be reduced. In this context, in January 2023, France and Italy announced to have jointly placed an order for almost 700 Asters of different versions for their respective forces. Then, France, Italy and the United Kingdom ordered 218 additional Aster missiles, and the acceleration of the delivery of missiles already ordered, as part of a joint acquisition earlier in March 2025.
For the last contract, the order concerned especially the procurement of the new version of ASTER 30 B1 NT. On October 2024, France carried out the first qualification firing of the new-generation Franco-Italian ASTER B1 NT system at the DGA missile test which will provide the Italian Navy and French Navy with anti-ballistic and anti-hypersonic missiles capabilities. The second firing test took place in July 2025. This version will be fitted aboard the Horizon type air defense destroyers of the Italian Navy (from 2027) and the French Navy (from 2030) following their mid-life update.
To date, the MBDA ASTER family of missiles has over 250 successful firing, including 100+ operational firings in Ukraine and in the Red Sea. In the Red Sea theatre, the French Navy alone has fired over 20 ASTER missiles, according to Admiral Defougère, head of Marine Nationale’s planning and programs.
