PARIS - MBDA has been leading the MCM ITP (Materials and Components for Missiles Innovation and Technology Partnership) research and technology program on behalf of the French and British ministries of defense since 2007.
Over the last six years and with an annual budget of approximately EUR13 million funded equally by the two governments and by industry, the program has supported over 90 research projects involving 89 industrial partners, SMEs, research centers and academia in France and the United Kingdom.
On May 22 and 23, 2013, during a conference in Lille, France, DGA, U.K. MoD, MBDA and its partners will review the first five-year cycle and outline the advances that have been made possible thanks to this new cooperative program. The French and British authorities have already agreed to continue the MCM ITP program for a further period of up to six years.
An inter-governmental agreement covering this new period is in the process of being concluded by the two nations, following which MBDA will launch a new tranche of research and an annual call for proposals.
Commenting on this event, Steve Wadey, MBDA executive group director Technical, and managing director UK, said, "Within the defense sector, the MCM ITP program is a unique business model. The principle of government and industrial co-financing supported by bilateral government agreements enables both countries to benefit from full access to all the technologies being explored across the program."
Wadey continued, "The program's balanced system of governance ensures that SMEs and private and public research centers receive approximately 30 percent of the funds allocated to this initiative and also allows for the involvement of the kind of SMEs and laboratories that would not normally be part of MBDA's usual network nor that of its partners and suppliers. The Franco-British work being carried out within this program is maturing technology for the next generation of missile programs and shaping the future industrial framework of the missile sector."
