08:46 AM EDT, 07/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Five European defense companies signed a letter of intent to form a consortium to create Bliksem EXO, a planned sovereign exo-atmospheric interceptor system against ballistic missile attacks. The Bliksem EXO consortium will be led by Destinus and includes Airbus (AIR.PA) unit Airbus Defence and Space, MBDA Deutschland, Safran's (SAF.PA) Safran Electronics & Defense, and Thales (HO.PA) as members, according to a Tuesday release. The companies agreed to enter into a binding consortium agreement within three months of the letter of intent's signing. The partnership aims for the development, qualification, industrial-scale production, and support of Bliksem EXO. Joint engineering is scheduled to start in August, with plans to carry out an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle test in space in 2027.

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