Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA, said: "MBDA fully supports the objectives of the EU and NATO to deepen their initiatives towards defence co-operation between participating countries. MBDA is a unique and successful model of a European integrated defence company. With more than 12,000 people working together across France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, our large European footprint gives us the critical mass to compete on the global market. Over the last 20 years, MBDA has built a strong track record of international co-operations and through this new office, we are looking forward to contributing our experience to the collective success of the European defence agenda in both its EU and NATO dimensions. Key to this are co-operation programmes, which are the 'engine' for the creation and consolidation within the European defence ecosystem of globally successful champions such as MBDA."