MBDA has announced successful firings of the CROSSBOW, as the latest milestone in the rapid development of a market ready ground launched deep strike capability.
The firings, completed in December 2025 and February 2026, demonstrate MBDA’s ability to adapt to current context and develop products differently, and at pace. CROSSBOW progressed from design to demonstration in just nine months in 2025.
Collaboration approach to innovation
Working with partner SMEs & primes from across UK and Europe, CROSSBOW has a modular design, utilising military and commercial off-the-shelf subsystems. With MBDA’s expertise at systems integration with innovation, this collaborative approach is what enables production at scale, and quickly achievable in 2026.
Doing things differently
The successful firings of CROSSBOW are evidence of MBDA doing things differently: investing in designing and demonstrating a product that is mature and ready for customers ahead of any contract. It is another MBDA example of utilising the learning from current conflicts to provide armed forces with what they want and need today. The pace of CROSSBOW development, going from the drawing board to firing in under a year, is a remarkable achievement, and testament to the collaborative hard work of all the partners involved.
Spiral development and modular design
CROSSBOW forms part of MBDA’s comprehensive strike portfolio, in response to the evolving threat and drive for affordable mass in the deep strike battlespace. It is designed as a credible solution that balances capability, complexity, lower cost, and production at scale to provide mass. With its modular design, CROSSBOW OWE(H) offers the option of spiral development to adapt survivability, range, lethality, navigation, and platform integration, according to different customer requirements and needs.
MBDA is able to produce CROSSBOW in 2026, at scale, at pace, and it is reflective of the Group’s commitment to invest in innovative new solutions, that complement its existing portfolio, and address evolving security threats. MBDA has already announced a significant ramp up in production to meet customers’ needs. In 2026, the company aims to increase production by 40% compared to 2025.