Defence Turkey: As a joint venture of the 3 European leaders in aerospace and defence; Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Leonardo (25%), MBDA is the only European group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems to meet the whole range of current and future needs of the three armed forces. Can we please start with an analysis of the first half of 2018 from MBDA’s point of view and could you elaborate on your targets for 2018 and 2019? Could you provide a capsule summary of your major activities carried out during the first half of 2018?

Michele DI NUNZIO: In 2017, for the fifth consecutive year MBDA recorded a high in orders, worth €4.2 billion, while revenue amounted to €3.1 billion. By 31 December the company’s order book reached a record peak of €16.8 billion, giving the group prospects for sustained growth over the next five years. In 2017 export orders (€2.6 billion) once again exceeded orders from the company’s domestic countries (€1.6 billion), confirming the competitiveness of MBDA products. MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier declared: “The group continues to move forward on each of its three strategic pillars: to give its domestic countries guaranteed access to missile technological sovereignty, to pursue European consolidation, to develop international activities; these three actions jointly contribute to the critical mass of MBDA, that is its ability to achieve long-term development faced with its global competitors. We continue to view the future with optimism, targeting, as we expected, €4 billion in revenue by 2020. To support this growth, the group plans to hire 1,200 people this year, after recruiting 1,000 in 2016 and as many in 2017.”