MBDA
MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles. It was formed as a joint venture by a merger of the guided missile divisions of EADS (now Airbus), Finmeccanica (now Leonardo), and BAE Systems in December 2001. Its headquarters are located in Le Plessis-Robinson, France. In 2016 the company had more than 10,500 employees. In 2017, MBDA recorded orders for €4.2 bn and an order book of €16.8 bn. The company name is an initialism of the names of the companies that came together to form it: Matra, BAe Dynamics and Alenia. MBDA works with  over 90 armed forces worldwide. History. The consolidation of Europe's missile companies began in 1996 when parts of Matra Defence and BAe Dynamics merged their missile activities to form Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD). Matra BAe Dynamics represented half of Matra Hautes Technologies' missile business; the other half was Matra Missiles which became Aérospatiale-Matra Missiles (AMM). In 1999, Matra group merged with Aérospatiale. In 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra became part of EADS (now Airbus). In 1998, GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems and combined their missile and radar activities to form Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS). In 1999, British Aerospace purchased  GEC's defence business to form BAE Systems. In December 2001, MBD (including AMM) and the Missile and Missile Systems activities of AMS merged, creating MBDA. In June 2005, LFK, a unit of Airbus Defence and Security Systems, agreed to be merged into MBDA. On 1 March 2006, LFK became MBDA Germany. ON 9 May 2012, the LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH became MBDA Deutschland GmbH. Since February 2002, MBDA has owned 40% of Inmize Sistemas S.L., a Spanish company that was formed to integrate the experience and technology of the major Spanish defence companies in the guided weapons sector. As AMS  had R&D assets located in California, MBDA also managed to acquire development and production facilities in the United States, choosing to operate in the country as a wholly-owned subsidiary, called MBDA Inc. In December 2011, MBDA Inc acquired the Viper Strike activity of Northrop Grumman in Huntsville, Alabama. Products. Overall, the group has 45 products in service and 15 more in development. MBDA's products include: