MBDA and Poland’s Military Institute of Weapons Technology (WITU) have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on missile development under the Counter Mass Interceptor (CMI) programme. The agreement was announced at the MSPO 2026 defence exhibition in Poland and is aimed at developing a fully Polish missile design that can be produced at relatively low cost and in large quantities. The intended system is designed to help European armed forces defend against a range of aerial threats, including drones, helicopters and cruise missiles.The companies have already completed a series of field trials in Poland to assess the performance of the missile seeker against several representative drone targets. Following the successful completion of those trials, the seeker is planned to be integrated into a prototype missile designed by WITU. Further development and testing will continue before an initial missile-firing campaign scheduled for 2027.The CMI is a 53-kilogram supersonic interceptor that was publicly unveiled by MBDA at the Farnborough International Airshow in July. MBDA UK is responsible for the initial development phase, while future production could be carried out by MBDA itself or through cooperation with industrial partners. The programme is intended to create an affordable interceptor that can be manufactured in significant numbers to address the growing threat posed by mass drone attacks and other low-cost aerial systems.
