
MBDA has announced that ROXEL, strategic supplier of rocket motors and energetic, is being made a wholly-owned subsidiary after the Group has completed the acquisition of the 50% share held by Safran on 19 December 2024.
MBDA adds that “ROXEL will continue to manage its activities independently, honouring all its existing contracts with other systems suppliers while developing new markets, particularly for export. This acquisition will accelerate the development of ROXEL, strengthening its position as a global player in tactical propulsion and consolidating its role as a national champion in France and the UK”.
ROXEL is a Franco-British firm which was born in 2003 from the merger of the French Celerg and the British Royal Ordnance Rocket Motors. As a European leader and a major global player in its field, ROXEL designs, develops, manufactures and supplies solid propulsion systems and associated equipment for all types of tactical and cruise missiles and rockets for air, naval and land forces.
ROXEL has 4 production sites (one in the UK, one in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and 2 in the Centre-Val de Loire region) as well as offices in the Paris region. In its new guise, ROXEL will “further develop innovation in new solid propulsion technologies”, according to its CEO, Sylvie Grison. The new organisation will also “make it easier to optimise industrial cycles for faster ramp-up”.
With the war in Ukraine making it necessary to expand the capacity for production of weapons in Europe, ROXEL is likely to see substantial growth, in turn indispensable to sustain MBDA’s own growth in production rates. In the UK, in particular, the Defence Equipment & Support agency of the MOD and ROXEL jointly announced, back in September 2024, the successful ground fire test of a composite propellant rocket motor described as the “the largest built and tested by the company in 25 years”.
No further detail was provided on the exact nature of this project, which however is described as a key step towards a “new composite propellant production line for key missile rocket motors in the UK”.
At the end of 2024 the UK MOD also notified industry that, through the auspices of Task Force KINDRED, the MoD's body set up in March 2022 which is tasked to provide equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), both from UK stockpiles and rapid procurement initiatives, will work to award a 3-year supply deal for new “energetics” production in the UK.
The MOD will work with industry during the first quarter of this year to agree “substantial investments” in the production of High explosives; propellants, particularly for rocket motors; pyrotechnics and raw Ingredients (ammonium, nitric acid etc).
The project will sustain Ukraine’s needs while improving production capacity in the UK and will thus “utilise part of the annual £3Bn budget for military support to Ukraine and could include investment in facilities and infrastructure”. ROXEL is sure to have a substantial role to play in this project.
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