Global Missile Maker MBDA Draw Attention From Southeast Asia

MBDA continues to maintain a strong and long-term commitment to the region and is actively involved in supplying various missile systems (like MICA, Mistral, and Exocet) and exploring new opportunities and partnerships across the Southeast Asian defence market.

Orders and interest in the company’s affordable and adaptable solutions by the region’s forces are growing, said MBDA’s Vice President of Exports Tim Riddle, adding that tightening budgets and growing operational demands are pushing many buyers in the region to seek affordable, field-tested solutions with flexible support structures.

With the delivery of the KAI FA-50 combat aircraft to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, MBDA’s ASRAAM air combat missile and Brimstone precision strike missile give unprecedented combat performance for a light fighter. They enable an aircraft to dominate the close air combat fight and easily engage all ground targets from the best protected tanks to moving vehicles and attack vessels.

Also being proposed is the vehicle mounted VL Mica system. MBDA has been a long-standing partner to the Malaysian Armed Forces for ground based air defence with the Jernas system. VL MICA NG is the new generation MICA air defence weapon system offering excellent self-defence and local area defence capability for a wide range of surface combatant vessels and land applications. VL MICA NG is available with two state-of-the-art seekers (IR or RF) and with a new dual-pulse rocket motor providing extended range engagement capability out to 40 km.

The company is proposing its next- generation GBAD system based on the CAMM family of missiles to provide cutting- edge layered air defence for the Malaysian Army and Malaysian Air Force. These provide significantly enhanced range and performance compared with Jernas, 360° all-weather coverage, and minimised support requirements.

MBDA is also pushing a proposal for additional and enhanced solutions to launch the AIM- 132 ASRAAM from the ground, aimed at rapidly bolstering Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) and complementing radar-guided solutions.

In the naval domain, the Royal Malaysian Navy have already selected MBDA’s VL MICA naval air defence system for one class of vessels, with the same system also offering great potential for other Malaysian naval vessels. The VL MICA NG that provides the highest levels of performance to protect naval vessels thanks to its new dual-pulse rocket motor and dual seeker options – AESA RF or Imaging IR.

The Philippine Navy successfully conducted its first-ever live firing of Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles in April 2025. Tim Riddle said that the company is also finalising negotiations for the supply of the Mistral 3 short range air defence systems with an agreement imminent early next year.

Meanwhile the Indonesian Ministry of Defence is planning to acquire MBDA’s SCALP (Storm Shadow) cruise missiles aimed at providing the Indonesian Air Force with a significant long-range strike and deterrent capability.

At the same time, Riddle said, the MBDA group’s close cooperation with Singapore continues further as Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) signed new deals with MBDA at the IMDEX Asia 2025 event to deepen their partnership and advance Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) capabilities.

For Thailand, the company’s Export Sales Manager Asia, Regis Turck said MBDA is promoting the Meteor to equip the Gripen fighters including the latest batch ordered by the Kingdom recently continues to provide support for the Royal Thai Armed Forces truck mounted VL Mica systems.

METEOR is MBDA’s revolutionary ramjet powered and network-enabled beyond visual range air-to-air missile, which is widely recognised as a game changer for air combat. Key to this is Meteor’s throttleable ramjet engine, active radar seeker and datalink that combine to provide unmatched end-game speed and manoeuvrability at greatly extended ranges.

MBDA, Naval Group and Cohortis collaborating to deliver naval solutions for the Royal Thai Navy’s second Frigate Programme.