In March this year, MBDA CEO Eric Beranger, spoke about how the Group has taken decisive action to ramp up production, and that key initiatives driving this acceleration included continuing to invest €2.4 billion over the next five years (2025-2029) and a significant recruitment drive.
Part of that investment will be dedicated to MBDA’s manufacturing site in Bolton, UK, and forms part of a wider £500 million commitment from the company to expand its UK manufacturing and technologies.
On 22 May 2025, the UK Government’s Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds visited the site announcing a £200 million investment that will ultimately see the facility more than double its footprint by 2028, creating 700 new jobs and grow its apprenticeship and STEM outreach programmes in the region.
Chris Allam, MBDA Executive Group Director for Engineering and UK Managing Director said:
“We are proud and excited to be building a world class engineering and manufacturing campus in the north-west of England, the centre of complex weapons manufacturing for the UK. The associated recruitment and training will extend our already great workforce.
“MBDA is privileged to have a 10-year Complex Weapons portfolio agreement with the UK Government. This gives us the confidence to invest and better support the UK and its allies. It also helps our supply chain and the 730 SMEs who work with MBDA in the UK. When we expand, they expand with us.”
The visit to the Bolton site follows a new Security and Defence Partnership signed earlier in the week leading up to the visit at the EU-UK Summit which will open the door to the EU’s new weapons scheme, and enable Europe realise the full potential of MBDA by leveraging the Group’s full defence industrial expertise through the inclusion of its UK arm in EU programmes, providing a reciprocal relationship that benefits all parties.
Jonathan Reynolds, the UK Government’s Business Secretary, said:
“This is great news for Bolton and another win for our world-class defence sector, which will create hundreds of good, well-paid jobs and ensure the UK continues to lead the way on the cutting-edge technologies of the future.
“Our new Security and Defence Partnership will unlock access to the EU’s proposed new £150 billion defence fund for UK firms.”
During the visit, the Business Secretary met with some of the Bolton site early-career professionals, who number over 400 across MBDA’s UK sites, and even more across the Group’s domestic countries.
Megan, a manufacturing apprentice present during the visit, said:
“It’s great that our site is expanding and there will be more early-careers opportunities for young people. Becoming an apprentice was an obvious choice for me. Having the chance to learn as part of my full time job and achieve a recognised qualification and career made it a very easy decision.
“Apprenticeships can be a unique experience for each person. They provide the chance to excel in industries people are passionate about, and the experiences they get will shape their future. Making the most out of my apprenticeship has led to reward and recognition for my hard work, and I always encourage others to study STEM subjects and do the same.”
To support our activities, we are constantly looking for new and passionate talent, ready to put their expertise at the service of the sovereignty of nations. To join one of our teams working together on technologies that help defend our nations, explore our opportunities across Engineering, Projects, Manufacturing and more on our careers page found in the menu at the top of this page.