DSEI 2025: MBDA positions new Crossbow missile as an affordable 800 km deep strike solution for NATO forces.

At the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London, held from 9 to 12 September 2025, MBDA officially presented the Crossbow system, designated as the One Way Effector Heavy. The program was developed in only seven months, progressing from a paper design to demonstration readiness, with a live-fire test expected in the fourth quarter of 2025 if supported by a customer.
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The Crossbow was developed to carry multi-role payloads of up to 300 kilograms, kinetic or non-kinetic, and strike fixed high-value targets such as logistics nodes, command centers, and radar sites at ranges beyond 800 kilometers while flying at high subsonic speeds. (Picture source: MBDA)

Production at scale is targeted as early as the second quarter of 2026. MBDA emphasized that the Crossbow was conceived to provide an affordable deep-strike capability in high-intensity conflicts and in environments where electromagnetic disruption is expected. The system was described as part of MBDA’s wider One Way Effector family, building on the smaller variant presented at the Paris Air Show earlier in 2025 but aimed at a different threat profile.

The Crossbow is a ground-launched, turbojet-powered weapon weighing around 750 kilograms, with a length of 5.3 meters, a fuselage diameter of 350 millimeters, and a wingspan of 3 meters. It is designed to deliver multi-role payloads up to 300 kilograms, either kinetic or non-kinetic, over distances exceeding 800 kilometers. MBDA specifies that it is intended to strike fixed high-value targets such as logistics nodes, command centers, and radar sites at high subsonic speeds. Unlike MBDA’s air-launched Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles, which carry a heavier 450-kilogram warhead, the Crossbow is lighter and configured for vehicle launch rather than fast-jet integration. It can be fired from launchers mounted on standard military trucks, with configurations for either single or twin shots housed in 20-foot ISO-compliant containers. Visual material presented at DSEI also showed a launcher on a Mercedes Zetos chassis, reflecting the program’s emphasis on straightforward integration rather than dedicated canisters.

The missile employs a navigation and guidance suite designed for use in contested environments. It integrates inertial navigation, hardened GNSS with anti-jamming features, terminal sensors, and an image-based navigation system supported by artificial intelligence. This image-recognition capability was developed in partnership with the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and is shared with MBDA’s Spear Glide munition. The design enables the missile to operate in GNSS-denied conditions and to conduct autonomous terminal guidance against static targets. MBDA stated that the system has reached a high technological readiness level, with options for further spiral development in survivability, lethality, range, navigation, and platform integration. The missile is intended to maintain adaptability, allowing for configuration changes depending on evolving threats and specific customer requirements.

To contain costs and enable rapid production scaling, the Crossbow makes extensive use of commercial- and military-off-the-shelf subsystems. MBDA leads the program as the prime integrator but involves a broad industrial base across Europe, including small and medium-sized enterprises and larger defense firms. Named partners include Czech turbojet producer PBS Group, Norwegian ammunition and warhead specialist Nammo, UK-based drone developer Modini, and aerospace engineering firm Marshall. The system’s modular payload bay allows MBDA to provide warheads or to integrate munitions from customer inventories, ensuring flexibility in procurement. MBDA’s broader One Way Effector concept has been described as a sovereign, long-range strike proposition, with its production model leveraging partnerships with civilian industries such as the automotive sector. This industrial model is intended to enable high-volume manufacturing, potentially producing hundreds of units per month, while maintaining resilience in supply chains and allowing sovereign national production where required.

The development of the Crossbow, designated by MBDA as a One Way Effector (Heavy), was not linked to a single national requirement, but rather to MBDA’s internal assessment of the evolving threat landscape. The company points to lessons drawn from the war in Ukraine, where expendable precision systems have been used to impose pressure on adversary air defenses and logistics networks. The Crossbow was designed in parallel with the lighter One Way Effector presented at the Paris Air Show, which is aimed at saturating enemy defenses and forcing them to reveal positions. In contrast, the Crossbow is optimized for deep strikes against fixed, high-value targets. The emphasis is on delivering massed long-range effects affordably, positioning the system as a complement to more sophisticated but more expensive weapons such as the Storm Shadow. Reports on the system highlighted deliberate design choices favoring function and rapid deployment over features like stealth shaping or folding wing mechanisms, underscoring its role as a practical, mass-producible effector.

Statements from MBDA’s leadership have described the Crossbow as a program that adapts both to the operational environment and to procurement constraints. The CEO underlined that the project was enabled by cooperation with European partners, agile decision-making, and tolerance of risk to accelerate timelines. MBDA has also indicated that customer demonstrations will dictate the pace of adoption, with multiple export and domestic prospects already engaged in discussions. The company did not disclose cost figures but positioned the system as less expensive than the Storm Shadow, which is estimated in independent assessments at around 850,000 € per unit. This affordability objective is intended to allow the Crossbow to be used in larger quantities, unlike more selective high-cost cruise missiles. Analysts noted similarities between the Crossbow’s design principles and Ukraine’s Peklo missile-drone, but emphasized that MBDA’s industrial base provides a larger-scale production capacity.

The Crossbow is presented as part of a broader MBDA portfolio expansion. Alongside it, MBDA has been advancing other new developments such as the Spear Glide, a glide variant of its air-to-surface munition designed for lower-cost employment by fourth-generation fighters, and the Akeron MBT 120, a non-line-of-sight gun-launched missile for main battle tanks. Within this framework, the Crossbow adds a ground-launched, long-range effector to the mix, aligning with European and NATO discussions about increasing lethality and mass in future conflicts. The program is also seen in relation to UK defense initiatives, particularly Project Brakestop, which was launched by the Ministry of Defence in 2024 to create a mobile deep-strike capability. MBDA declined to comment on direct linkage but confirmed that the Crossbow’s modular design allows it to meet both domestic and export requirements. If adopted, the system would enter serial production in 2026, expanding Europe’s access to affordable deep-strike weapons designed for contested environments.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.