European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius visited MBDA in Bourges and Safran's AASM guided-bomb kit site in Montluçon on Thursday, alongside French ministers Alice Rufo (Armed Forces) and Benjamin Haddad (Europe). The aim: shape how the €60bn of European loans for Ukraine's defence will be allocated, as Viktor Orban's fall in Hungary unlocks the financing timetable. Of the 2,000 missiles that have struck Ukraine, 900 were ballistic: "To destroy just one, two to three anti-ballistic missiles are needed," stressed the Commissioner, while US Patriot production tops out at 750 per year and the Iran war is redirecting that flow into American stockpiles.

The two French industrial champions laid out their case. Safran builds inertial navigation systems in Montluçon that equip AASM guided bombs able to target without GPS — technology the Americans lack (Patriot depends on GPS). "We beat Northrop Grumman and Honeywell, our main competitors," Franck Saudo, head of Safran's electronics and defence division, told the visit. France and Norway have ordered a large volume of AASM for Kyiv for more than NOK 7bn; AASM output has quadrupled in four years to 1,200 units in 2025. On MBDA's side, the Meteor missile travels at more than 5,000 km/h; the SAMP/T NG system co-produced with Thales — 150 km intercept range, 40,000 components with 60% from subcontractors — will be tested in Ukraine in 2026. Aster (the missile component of SAMP/T) output rose five-fold between 2024 and 2025 and is to double again in 2026, with production lead time down to 18 months from three years in 2022. MBDA plans €5bn of investment over the coming years.

The political stake is to direct European funds to European industry, while Kyiv has already signed a €3.7bn contract with Raytheon for Patriot missiles made in Germany — co-financed by Berlin with the US — and Rheinmetall-Lockheed Martin and Diehl-Raytheon have formed transatlantic alliances. "Depending solely on a third-party industry can no longer work," Rufo concluded. Source: Les Echos, 17 April 2026, Anne Drif.