BAE Systems, Airbus and Finmeccanica owned missile builder MBDA to increase staff count by 1,000

Missile-maker MBDA is understood to have bagged record orders, with major deals coming in from Egypt and Qatar. It said that total orders in 2015 stood at €5.2bn (£4.05bn, $5.86bn), which is about 4.7 times more than the 2014 orders of €1.1bn. The Stevenage-headquartered company said it will increase its employee count by 1,000 at its British and French sites, to execute this increase in orders.

Currently, the company, which is owned together by BAE Systems, Airbus and Finmeccanica, has a total order book of €15.1bn. MBDA said that this would keep it busy at work for the next five years. It has witnessed a trend where orders have exceeded domestic demand even as pressure on European military budgets continued.

This boost in orders in 2015 was because of increased demand from the Middle Eastern nations for weapons to power the French-built Rafale fighter jets, the company said. Apart from a host of weapons for the RAF's Typhoon jets such as the ASRAAM, Meteor air-to-air missiles, Storm Shadow and Brimstone ground attack weapons, the company also makes a range of land-based and naval weapons for its approximately 100 military customers, according to The Telegraph.

Antoine Bouvier, chief executive at the missile maker, said, "Year after year, MBDA is getting stronger in exports, enabling the group to return to a period of growth after managing the effects of budget cuts in its European domestic markets. This ensures we can strengthen the company and guarantees its status as a global player in missiles, at a time when competition in the international market is increasingly fierce."