European missile manufacturer MBDA is leading a consortium of companies to conceptualize a prototype hypersonic interceptor.

Defense News reported on this.

MBDA has signed a letter of intent with France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands to develop a hypersonic interceptor.

Currently, preparations for the concept stage for the Hypersonic Defense Interceptor Study, or HYDIS2, are ongoing.

The countries will present their project designs, one of which will be promoted further.

MBDA Group is a consortium that includes nine companies and 30 suppliers from 14 European countries.

Besides the four nations that have signed letters of intent to support HYDIS2, industry partners hail from Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Spain, and Belgium.

Bruno Verzotti, MBDA’s director of future systems, noted that the company has been working on counter-hypersonic technology for roughly the past four years as part of the Aquila project.

The program will be linked to the EU-funded Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER Surveillance (TWISTER) program.

Funding is supported by the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) scheme.

Currently, Europe already has an interceptor program under the index HYDEF.

The EU HYDEF program is estimated at approximately €110 million.

European countries seek to strengthen the joint air defense system due to Russia’s active use of cruise missiles in Ukraine.

Militarnyi previously reported that the German government approved an advance payment to purchase the Israeli Arrow 3 missile defense system.

If the deal goes according to plan, the contract will be signed by the end of 2023. Berlin expects the missile defense system to be delivered in the last quarter of 2025.