According to the joint statement, the Bliksem EXO missile development consortium aims to build an advanced defense platform capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in the mid-course of flight.
The Bliksem EXO consortium includes many major European defense enterprises, including Thales and Safran Electronics & Defense of France, Airbus Defense and Space, MBDA Deutschland - the German branch of the MBDA missile manufacturing group. The consortium also includes Destinus of Switzerland - Netherlands - a company supplying missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine.
The joint venture establishment meeting took place in Paris, France with the participation of Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten. Here, business leaders officially committed to developing an atmospheric interception system independent of Europe.
According to the announcement, the Bliksem EXO defense platform will deal with medium and long-range ballistic missiles, including advanced weapons such as Oreshnik - Russia's hypersonic missile.
Notably, Bliksem EXO will be fully compatible with NATO's Integrated Missile Defense and Air Defense System (IAMD) as well as the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), thereby supplementing the remaining capabilities of existing systems in intercepting ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere.
The consortium also assigns specific tasks to each member. Destinus plays the role of program coordinator, in charge of integrating the entire system and developing atmospheric interception vehicles. MBDA Deutschland is responsible for developing launchers, launchers and containment and transport pipes. Safran develops seekers and navigation, control and control systems.
Airbus will design a command, control, communication, computer and field intelligence (BMC4I) system to connect detection, tracking and interception capabilities. For its part, Thales provides radar and sensor solutions, from missile early warning to fire control systems.
The establishment announcement also emphasized Ukraine's real-world experience in countering large-scale attacks with missiles and UAVs that will be used in the process of developing, testing and evaluating the operational efficiency of Bliksem EXO.
The parties expect to complete the official agreement within 3 months after signing the memorandum of understanding, and start joint technical design activities from August 2026. According to the plan, test flights of the atmospheric interceptor vehicle will be conducted in 2027. To date, detailed technical parameters of the interceptor system have not been announced.
