MBDA unveils One Way Effector

MBDA has presented its One Way Effector concept at the Paris Air Show, which the company is describing as a “new attrition proposition,” in a 17th June press release. Development has been carried out in partnership with a drone company and the automotive industry, and MBDA believes that 1,000 could be built per month. 

The press release is quite vague on details – both for the One Way Effector and the other companies involved in the partnership. However, Renault is understood to be in conversations with the French Ministry of Defence to produce drones for Ukraine, according to a 15th June article published by Le Monde. This could be indicative of the partnership in question, but the main point is that the One Way Effector is built using mass-produced components, rather than the bespoke parts that characterise western missiles. In theory, this should mean that there is slack within the effector’s supply chain to enable an expansion of production at short notice. 

Production is a pain point for MBDA, which supplies air defence and precision strike missiles for much of Europe. The company has drawn some pressure from the French government over production timelines, in particular for the Aster 30 air defence missile that is used by several navies including France and the UK on the FREMM and Type 43 destroyer respectively. It took 42 months to produce a single Aster 30 in 2022, and the company is aiming to reduce that to 18 months whilst increasing output. 

To support this, MBDA is understood to be stockpiling certain materials and components, and placing orders for other long-lead items in anticipation of need. This is partly driven by renewed governmental commitments; the UK, France, and Italy ordered 218 additional Asters and provided funding to support an increase in production rates in March 2025. However, the production timeframes that European states have for complex weapons is arguably the result of government policies over the past 30 years. We have the production capacity that we have paid for. 

Outside of complex missiles and returning to the One Way Effector; it has a range of 500 km and carries a warhead large enough (reportedly 40 kg)  to compel an adversary to shoot it down, the press release states. “Fired from the ground in salvoes, the One Way Effector is aimed at exhausting enemy resources by exerting constant pressure on hostile air defence systems,” it adds. 

According to MBDA, it would “force even the most sophisticated air defences to reveal themselves, making them easier to detect and neutralise, in conjunction with other long-range strike systems.” This is worth unpacking a little as it stands to reason that Russia is quite familiar with large salvos of drones or “one way effectors,” Ukraine has launched thousands of them towards Moscow and other areas. It has short-range air defence systems like the Pantsir-S, which are designed to handle saturation attacks of cruise missiles, and would presumably be able to engage the One Way Effector quite cost effectively. It is also doubtful that Russia would consider using a larger, more strategic system like an S-400 for this type of engagement as the press release claims. 

Spear 3 was used in a guided live firing in late 2024, but it is yet to be integrated onto the F-35. Credit: MBDA

Moreover, Ukraine has shown that mobile teams armed with machine guns and cannons can degrade large attacks of Shaheds/Gerans, leaving its more advanced air defence systems to engage cruise missiles. This system has its weaknesses, flying at a higher altitude and including decoys within the salvos of Gerans has certainly degraded the interception rate. Combined with their use in much higher numbers, it is clear that cheap attritable systems can create problems for a defender, but that solutions can also be relatively easy to develop. That said, Ukraine has used a combination of complex weapons and cheaper strike drones to saturate and engage Russian air defence systems on Crimea, which suggests that it is a potentially valid approach to suppression and destruction of enemy air defences (SEAD/DEAD). However, and it is a significant ‘however,’ cheaper mass-produced systems are not a replacement for, and cannot come at the expense of conventional precision strike weapons like Spear 3. 

It is also worth noting that Russia employs Gerans and Shaheds against large area targets, they are generally accurate enough to strike a large building, but otherwise are more of a terror weapon. This is unlikely to be a concept of operations that any European armed force is comfortable with, potentially limiting their use to SEAD/DEAD in the first phases of a war. 

Calibre comment

The One Way Effector from MBDA is an interesting concept, although it can hardly be described as a “new attrition proposition.” Ukraine and Russia both make extensive use of these types of munitions, and the Houthis and Iran have used them to engage targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel. However, for the West, which has a big challenge to solve in how it conducts SEAD/DEAD, especially without US help, it offers one part of the puzzle. Especially when combined with platforms like StormShroud, and hopefully the integration of Spear 3 and Joint Strike Missiles onto more F-35 fleets. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on 18th June, 2025.