Self-Protection System for Surface Vessels

MBDA is presenting the Self-Protection Integrated MISTRAL Module (SPIMM) at NAVDEX in Abu Dhabi this week. SPIMM is an all-in-one module, based on the SIMBAD-RC system and designed to equip ships of all types, particularly those without a combat system, such as supply vessels.

The SPIMM module consists of a SIMBAD-RC automated naval turret equipped with two ready-to-fire MISTRAL missiles and a 360° infrared panoramic system to detect and track air and surface threats. The system is entirely controlled by two operators located in a shelter inside the module, which is also used to store four additional missiles. This ISO standard ‘all-in-one’ module, 10ft long and weighing some 7t, can easily be positioned on the deck of a ship using a crane, requiring just a standard electrical connection.

Designed to protect surface vessels against most conventional airborne threats – anti-ship missiles, combat aircraft, helicopters and UAVs – SIMBAD-RC and MISTRAL demonstrated, at the end of last year, its ability to neutralise asymmetric threats such as fast inshore attack craft (FIAC), by day and night.

“The SPIMM enables the urgent and rapid adaptation of supply vessels or landing platform docks to cope with new threats, or for using them in contested areas,” commented the company’s Naval Defence Systems Product Executive, Christophe Leduc. “This system illustrates MBDA’s ability to understand its customers’ needs and to quickly come up with effective and functional solutions.”