South African defence company Milkor Group and European missile systems specialist MBDA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the integration of MBDA missile systems and other technologies onto Milkor’s medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, the Milkor 380.
The agreement was signed in Pretoria during the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2026 exhibition by Julien Durand, Vice President Middle East & Africa at MBDA, and Julian Coetzee, CEO of Milkor UAE, on behalf of their respective companies.
Under the MoU, the two companies will integrate MBDA-designed missile systems onto the Milkor 380, drawing on Milkor’s UAV design, development and manufacturing expertise alongside MBDA’s long-standing missile systems portfolio spanning air, land and sea domains.
The Milkor 380 is Africa’s largest indigenously developed medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV, with an endurance of up to 30–35 hours, a range exceeding 4,000 km and a payload capacity of around 220 kg. Already in production and drawing export interest, the platform is positioned for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions, while the larger Milkor 780 remains under development and is expected to further extend the family’s operational envelope.
The partnership adds to Milkor’s growing list of international collaborations aimed at expanding the sensor, mission-system and weapons options available on its UAV family for customers across global export markets. For MBDA, the MoU marks a further step into the unmanned systems sector and reflects the wider trend toward cross-border partnerships in delivering integrated, export-ready defence solutions.
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