Dedicated Launcher Cells and Upgraded SEA VIPER 2 System
All six Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers are to receive enhanced air and missile defence capabilities under a number of contracts recently awarded to MBDA, the company announced on 6 July.
The work will see the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) paired with an upgraded SEA VIPER C2 system for the first time. CAMM offers both close-in and local-area air defence, and will complement the ASTER 30 weapon system, strengthening the vessel’s air defence capability. Equipping them with CAMM will give the destroyers a 50% increase in the number of air defence missiles in 24 additional launcher cells – and SEA VIPER will receive a technology upgrade, giving it a major increase in processing power.
The existing 48 SYLVER cells will now be dedicated solely to the longer-range ASTER 30, which is also subject to a recently-announced mid-life refresh. This will see the missile remain in service throughout the anticipated service life of the Type 45s.
CAMM has already been delivered to the Royal Navy and the British Army,, where it is the interceptor in both ground-based and naval-based air defence systems, enabling the services to equip missiles from a shared stockpile. In service on upgraded Royal Navy Type 23 frigates, CAMM will also be fitted to the Type 26 and Type 31 in the future. The CAMM family has proven a rapid success with international customers, with Canada and Brazil among new operators ordering the missile this year.