MBDA To Add Anti-ship Ballistic Missile Capability To Sea Viper Anti-air Missiles

ASTER Sea Viper HMS Dragon Type 45
HMS Dragon a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer carries out a successful firing of a Sea Viper missile in the Atlantic off the Hebride Isles. 27 May 2021. File picture: Royal Navy
Sea Viper Evolves To Add ASBM Capability
MBDA UK is moving forward with a two-stage programme intended to confer the Royal Navy’s (RN’s) Sea Viper anti-air guided weapon system with an organic anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) ‘detect-to-defeat’ capability later this decade.

Known as Sea Viper Evolution (SVE), the upgrade will give the RN’s six Type 45 destroyers the ability to protect a task group against ASBMs while retaining their full anti-air warfare (AAW) capability against ‘conventional’ sea-skimming and high-diving anti-ship missile threats.

Developed by MBDA to meet the RN’s requirements for local area air defence against anti-ship cruise missiles, the current Sea Viper weapon system combines the Aster 15 and Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles, a 48-cell Sylver A50 vertical launcher, BAE Systems’ Sampson multifunction radar (MFR), and an MBDA UK-developed command and control (C2) system.

This first phase of the ASBM upgrade, known as SVE Capability 1, will introduces the dual-mode warhead Aster 30 Block 1 missile together with software/firmware updates to the Sampson MFR to support ASBM surveillance and tracking. SVE Capability 1 also encompasses modifications to the C2 subsystem software to incorporate BMD threat evaluation and weapon assignment doctrine and interfaces, and associated modifications to the Type 45 combat management system.

The UK is upgrading its existing Aster 30 missile stock to Aster 30 Block 1 standard as part of a trinational Mid-life Upgrade programme. This involves the conversion of Aster 30 warheads to Aster 30 Block 1 Naval UK standard, and autopilot software development and logistics updates.

HMS Dragon a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer carries out a successful firing of a Sea Viper missile in the Atlantic off the Hebride Isles. 27 May 2021. File picture: Royal Navy
MBDA was given approval by the Ministry of Defence in May 2022 to move forward with the Demonstration and Manufacture (D&M) phase of SVE Capability 1. A full award was confirmed at the end of April 2023; the overall D&M phase is valued at more than £300 million.

SVE Capability 2, planned to enter service before the end of the decade, is looking to introduce the Aster 30 Block 1NT missile into the Sea Viper weapons system architecture to deliver a capability against more complex ASBM threats, including separating targets. Aster 30 Block 1NT introduces a new Ka-band radar seeker affording increased target acquisition range and improved angular resolution.

MBDA UK has recently commenced on a two-year SVE Capability 2 Assessment Phase contract. Alongside the integration of the Aster Block 1NT effector, the SVE Capability 2 embodiment will also include additional modifications to the MFR and C2.

Separate to SVE, the RN is moving forward with plans to introduce the MBDA Common Anti-air Missile (CAMM) into the Sea Viper guided weapon system as part of an AAW upgrade for its Type 45 destroyers. CAMM will replace the Aster 15 missile as the ‘inner layer’ air defence effector in Sea Viper while also offering a capability against fast inshore attack craft.

The MoD in March 2021 awarded MBDA a D&M contract for the Sea Viper-CAMM (SV-CAMM) implementation, which will see a new 24-missile CAMM silo added in front of the existing Sylver A50 vertical launcher silo. The existing Sea Viper C2 system will also receive a technology upgrade.

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