MBDA is to continue to offer Boeing's JDAM GPS-satellite guided bomb despite losing out to Raytheon's Paveway IV in the UK's Precision Guided Bomb (PGB) contest.
MBDA chief executive Marwan Lahoud says: "It is my intent that we retain JDAM in our product range and should offer it wherever a short-range air-to-ground system is required. Subject to review [by the board] this is going to be our strategy."
One consequence is that there is now no possibility of a UKJDAM production line. Lahoud adds: "It's too bad that we lost in the UK because all our JDAM production would have been there. It doesn't preclude us from starting up a production line elsewhere in Europe."
MBDA chief operating officer Guy Griffiths says: "The agreement with Boeing was fairly wide-ranging and it remains extant, and as far as both we and they are concerned it is still good in UK and export markets."
Source: Flight International