MBDA France on Dec. 1 acquired the ramjet integration and testing activities of Roxel France, after an agreement was signed between MBDA and Safran Group’s Herakles—equal joint shareholders of the Roxel group.
The acquisition does not include Roxel’s ramjet integral booster or thermo-structural materials activities.
Roxel group specializes in tactical propulsion technology in France and the United Kingdom, and will continue to supply rocket motors for MBDA missiles as well as those of other suppliers.
MBDA has now become the technical authority for ramjets in France as well as in Europe.
Ramjets are airbreathing motors used particularly for supersonic flight propulsion over long distances.
The transaction will see the transfer to MBDA France of 18 Rexel employees. Site facilities and ramjet test facilities all will remain on the same site in Bourges-Subdray in the Cener region of France.
This industrial optimization aims to bring together engineering and test activities to create a more integrated and coordinated approach while working on future developments.
MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier said, “By optimizing the industrial and commercial basis of their organization this way, MBDA, Herakles and Roxel aim to maintain a sovereign capability in France at the best possible cost to the taxpayer.This capability is unique in Europe and is one that has been patiently developed over the course of more than half a century. It is a capability that will be critical in the coming years in controlling costs and lead times for future French and European long-range, super-a and hypersonic missile programs thereby preserving the competitiveness of the missile sector in Europe.
Herakles CEO Phillipe Scheicher said: “As a result of this transfer, Rexel will be able to continue to invest and develop its core business, namely, solid-fuel rocket motors for tactical missiles, an activity in which it is the European leader and one of the world’s leading companies as well. Herakles will work together with Roxel in this process and will continue to provide the skills it has acquired in the area of ballistic missile and space launch vehicle propulsion.”
MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems and EADS, each with 37.5 percent and Finmeccanica (25 percent)