The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) recently announced contracts worth $514 million to upgrade its destroyers’ Sea Viper Air Defense System.
The work is split into two contracts with Sea Viper builder MBDA U.K. that aim to enhance the Sea Vipers onboard the six Type 45
Daring-class air-defense guided missile destroyers and a third contract that covers enhanced in-service support and system availability for the next five years.
Sea Viper encompasses two radars, the Aster missile, and the command system that can track hundreds of possible threats to a ship at a range up to 250 miles. The system can target threats when they reach 70 miles distance.
The Royal Navy said the first stage of the revamp upgrades the Aster 30 missile to the Block 1 variant to make it able to intercept anti-ship ballistic missiles. It will also upgrade the Sampson multi-function radar, command and control system and combat management system.
The government dubbed the second stage as “Sea Viper evolution” to evaluate introduction of the new Aster 30 Block 1NT missile, which is currently in development in France and Italy. The Block 1NT missile adds a new seeker that intends to add additional ballistic missile defense capabilities for the destroyers.
The new missile primarily had a new seeker to improve ballistic missile defense capabilities for the Type 45 destroyers and to help protect the U.K. carrier strike group.
The MoD characterized the upgrade as a way to counter more complex threats like ballistic missiles and provide an opportunity to add future upgrades in future systems.
“A cutting-edge weapon system, Sea Viper continues to provide the Royal Navy with impressive lethality. Sea Viper Evolution further enhances this capability against the more complex and evolving threats and strengthens our cooperation and interoperability with key partners,” Royal Navy director for Force Generation, Rear Adm. Anthony Rimington, said in a statement.
The MoD argued this upgrade will make Sea Viper the most capable air defense system ever developed for the Royal Navy.
Notably, in recent weeks the HMS Diamond destroyer has been using the current version of Sea Viper to intercept targets launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea as part of the U.S.-led Operational Prosperity Guardian taskforce to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
“As the situation in the Middle East worsens, it is vital that we adapt to keep the U.K., our allies and partners safe. Sea Viper has been at the forefront of this, being the Navy’s weapon of choice in the first shooting down of an aerial threat in more than 30 years,” British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
“They will also see the U.K. further enhance the co-operation with France and Italy through MBDA by joining the Aster 30 Block 1 program, giving the U.K. the ability to defeat anti-ship ballistic missiles,” Chris Allam, Managing Director of MBDA U.K., said.
MoD said these enhancements to the Type 45 destroyers are expected to culminate in full operational capability by fall 2032.
Sea Viper is the British version of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System, a joint system developed with France and Italy for anti-aircraft warfare. The French and Italian versions are very similar to the British, but using an EMPAR multi-function radar instead of the Sampson and still sharing a vertical launching system and Aster missiles.