CAMM-M/ Sea Ceptor
(click to view full)
Britain’s Royal Navy currently uses Seawolf missiles as the primary air defense system for its Type 23 frigates. They’re updated versions of a missile that was used during the 1982 Falklands War, but modern threats demand more. Britain also needs to equip its Type 26/27 Global Combat Ship frigate replacements, and could use an option that raises the number of air defense missiles carried by its Type 45 air defense destroyers.
The answer to all of these problems is being developed as one component of Britain’s GBP 4 billion, 10-year “Team Complex Weapons” partnership with MBDA. It’s a quad-packable, intermediate-range air defense missile with its own active radar guidance, which re-uses a number of features and technologies from British fighter jets’ AIM-132 ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missile. Not only will it serve on British ships, but it’s set to field as an Army air defense missile, and may even fly on future British fighters.
The Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM)
VL Seawolf
(click to view full)
FLAADS, the Future Low-Altitude Air Defense System, is the British designation for the system as a whole, which is projected to involve FLAADS (M) at sea, and FLAADS (L) on land. CAMM is the missile, and MBDA uses this term as a base reference. The naval version has been given the name “Sea Ceptor”, and MBDA also refers to “CAMM-M”. In 2013, Britain confirmed its Type 23 Duke Class frigates, its forthcoming Type 26 frigates, and its Type 45 Daring Class air defense destroyers as the missile’s initial platforms. The Type 23 Duke Class will be the 1st platform, with refits taking place from 2015 – 2021.
The CAMM missile’s range remains vague. Reports have cited 500 square nautical mile coverage, which amounts to only a 12.6 nmi circle. That’s acceptable for a point defense replacement, but MBDA refers to air defense at ranges “greater than 25 km”, as well as effectiveness against threats riding on the water. That would give it more versatility than the Seawolf missiles it will replace, and longer range that compares favorably against modern short-range peers like IAI/RAFAEL’s Barak-1 and Denel’s Umkhonto. Within the global market, it seems to fit somewhere in between short-range bolt-on naval defense systems like MBDA’s Crotale or Raytheon’s RAM; and medium-range vertical-launch missiles like MBDA’s VL-MICA and Aster-15, or Raytheon’s RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow and SM-2 Standard.
That’s actually a pretty useful niche. It encompasses the main danger zone for saturation anti-ship missile attacks, which threaten to overwhelm the targeting (illuminator) capabilities of many ships that rely on older radar designs and/or semi-active radar homing missiles.
CAMM-M launch
(click to view full)
MBDA’s response to the saturation threat was to use active homing radar guidance and a 2-way datalink for the missile, removing any strain on limited radar illuminators. It’s similar to Raytheon’s approach with the much longer-range and more sophisticated SM-6, but in a simpler, more limited, and cheaper design. The SM-6 will be able to use the ship’s more powerful radar as an option, and be cued by other vessels over the horizon, but Sea Ceptor can’t do those things. The ship’s radar sees the incoming threat, the CAMM missile is fired, the datalink updates the missile with the current location of the threat, and CAMM’s own seeker takes over once it’s close enough.
A wide variety of ships could make good use of a missile like that, especially a missile that doesn’t need ultra-sophisticated ship radars and illuminators/ trackers in order to be effective. MBDA’s use of a piston-driven “soft launch” approach removes another big obstacle to integration on small ships like corvettes or FAC(Fast Attack Craft), widening the potential market even further. On the software and hardware end, MBDA is reportedly re-using a number of elements from the high-end PAAMS system that equips advanced British, French and Italian anti-aircraft destroyers.
MBDA has confirmed to DID that the naval Sea Ceptor will be packed into Seawolf vertical launch tubes as a 1 for 1 replacement, beginning “in the middle of the current decade.” Reports indicate that the missile is designed to be quad-packed into DCNS SYLVER A50/A70 launchers on ships like Britain’s Type 45 destroyers, and into American Mk.41 tactical/strike length cells that are in common use by navies around the world. That capability is an especial help to the Type 45 air defense ships, whose low number of carried anti-aircraft missiles is one reason that they suffer by comparison to their western peers. Fortunately, FLAADS-M’s heavy re-use of elements from the Type 45 destroyer’s PAAMS combat & launch system makes integration relatively simple.
With respect to the forthcoming Type 26 frigate design, MBDA would only say that:
“On other platforms [beyond the Type 23], the Soft Vertical Launch system allows for considerable flexibility in launching arrangements and significantly higher packing densities can be achieved. The design of the Sea Ceptor launcher on Type 26 is not yet finalised.”
Typhoon fires ASRAAM
(click to view full)
On land, FLAADS (L) would use the CAMM missile packed onto a truck mounted container, plus a containerized command and control cabin. Because the missile carries its own radar, FLAADS fire units aren’t sold with their own radars, just a secure MBDA-developed datalink. Fielding requires integration of the FLAADS(L) command module with existing air defense systems for cueing. This may seem like a limitation, but it actually makes the system quite dangerous. The fire units don’t have an emitting radar to give their location away and attract enemy attacks, and cueing from a variety of radar and non-radar assets makes it very difficult to silence the missile battery. A prototype was rolled out in the summer of 2009, and CAMM-L is cued as the future replacement for Britain’s Rapier missile batteries.
Future years may also see a CAMM-A successor to the AIM-132 ASRAAM, flying on British fighters. ASRAAM is currently guided by imaging infrared, but there are already air-to-air missiles, like the medium-range Russian AA-10 and French MICA, that come in both radar and IR versions. Short-range missiles haven’t used radar guidance over the last couple of decades, but giant strides in fighter radar capabilities, and the ASRAAM design’s long range for its class, make this a thinkable future option.
Contracts & Key Events
2012 – 2013
UK Demonstration phase & Production phase contracts; New Zealand picks CAMM to upgrade ANZAC frigates; UK to begin Type 23 frigate refits in 2015; Mk.41 VLS test-launch succeeds.
ExLS/Mk.41 launch
(click to view full)
Oct 28/13: UK. UK secretary of state for defence Philip Dunne answers a Parliamentary question by saying that Sea Ceptor refits on the Type 23 frigates will be installed as part of their long-term refit program. That program will also outfit the ships with new Artisan 3D radars and other equipment, and refits are scheduled to run from 2015 – 2021. Sources: Portsmouth’s The News, “Frigates to be fitted with new missiles from 2015″.
Oct 7/13: New Zealand. The Royal New Zealand Navy will upgrade its 2 ANZAC Class frigates with MBDA’s CAMM/ Sea Ceptor for air defense, rather than following Australia’s ANZAC upgrade and replacing the ship’s RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles with Raytheon’s RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow.
New Zealand is the 1st Sea Ceptor export customer, and they’re also the 1st customer to benefit from MBDA and Lockheed Martin’s MoU (q.v. May 15/13) around the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System.
New Zealand’s air defense upgrade is expected to be cheaper than Australia’s, and is also expected to be cheaper per missile, while providing a different set of performance advantages in the short term. CAMM’s active guidance is currently an advantage compared to the RIM-162 ESSM missiles aboard upgraded Australian ANZACs, in exchange for shorter range. Both missile types can be quad-packed, giving their 8-cell Mk.41 vertical launchers a maximum load of 32 air defense missiles. The tradeoff is that Australia’s ESSMs can use the ship’s more powerful radar for guidance, in exchange for additional work tying the missile into the frigate’s combat system. ESSM Block 2 will probably add an active guidance option, erasing CAMM’s edge and retaining longer range, but that isn’t even in the design stage yet. Sources: MBDA, Oct 7/13 release.
RNZN picks Sea Ceptor
Sept 10/13: Testing. CAMM has a successful launch test from a Lockheed Martin ExLS vertical launcher, using MBDA’s piston-driven cold launch approach. This is the first test under the May 2013 MoU between the 2 firms.
ExLS is a quad-pack insert for Mk.41 Vertical Launch System cells, but the release also describes a “3-cell stand-alone ExLS CAMM launcher” that can be used on smaller ships. MBDA’s cold launch technology is a big plus in that market. The missile’s is launched high by piston, then pitched toward horizontal by small mid-body maneuvering thrusters before the main rocket motor ignites. That allows for bolt-on naval solutions, without worrying about about launch flames damaging surrounding equipment. Sources: MBDA, Sept 12/13 release.
Sept 10/13: Production. The UK Ministry of Defence announces the 1st CAMM production contract: GBP 250 million (about $393 million) for the Sea Ceptor/ CAMM-M. Final assembly will take place at MBDA’s Lostock facility, with 9 Tier-1 subcontractors distributed across sites in England and Scotland.
Sea Ceptor is being delivered under the Team Complex Weapons Portfolio Management Agreement, which will create a common missile stockpile for a future planned land system.
The UK’s announcement of the missile’s platforms is equally significant. Sea Ceptor will be retrofitted to Type 23 Duke Class frigates beginning in 2016, serve aboard the forthcoming Type 26 frigate as its primary air defense system – and complement the Aster missiles on the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers. Sources: UK MoD, Sept 10/13 release | MBDA, Sept 9/13 release.
Production contract & Platforms
Sept 10/13: IMU. MBDA is working with United Technologies’ UTC Aerospace to create a MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit for use in its missiles guidance, navigation & control system. Current IMU technologies use higher-cost options like fiber optics, and a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems unit has the potential to be smaller, weigh less, and cost less. The joint project will be backward-compatible with an existing UTC Aerospace Systems MEMS IMU, which may make upgrades simpler.
A CAMM Missile picture is shown on MBDA’s release, and it would be a logical platform for the new technology. Sources: MBDA, Sept 10/13 release.
May 15/13: MBDA MoU. MBDA signs an MoU with Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin that has the potential to shake up the naval missile industry. It sounds innocuous: both companies agree to jointly explore the market for the integration of MBDA naval missile systems into Lockheed Martin’s MK-41 Vertical Launch System, and ExLS VLS/cell insert. They’ll begin with a late 2013 demonstration involving Britain’s new CAMM-M Sea Ceptor missile.
The implications reach far beyond CAMM. Britain has already been considering adding a set of Mk-41 cells to the Type 45 destroyer, in order to hold SM-3 ballistic missile defense missiles. Adding CAMM to those cells would make the drop-in even more attractive, by giving the Type 45s two things they don’t currently have: snap-launch anti-submarine defenses (VL-ASROC), and a larger array of air defense missiles (quad-packed CAMM). Beyond Britain, MBDA has a wide array of naval missiles, and adding those missiles to the Mk-41 would give that VLS overwhelming dominance in the global naval market. Read “CAMM Opener for the Naval Missile Market: MBDA & LMCO’s MoU” for full coverage.
April 5/13: Sub-contractors. MBDA and Thales tout growing cooperation with lead firm MBDA on CAMM-related projects. Thales Belfast, which works on other missiles like the RB57 NLAW, is working on assessing and modeling heat management within the CAMM missile, structural analysis, and precision manufacturing of some missile components. It’s just GBP 1 million in business so far, but could become GBP 8 million of manufacturing work in the next phase. Meanwhile, Thales’ Basingstroke site is working on missile safety design, arming units, and intelligent fuzes.
The larger goal is a single overall enabling contract between the 2 firms, which will make it easier to place work with Thales. The 2 firms are also looking at the support opportunity created by the British Army’s decision to bring all of its current air defense assets together at Thorney Island. Thales | MBDA.
January 2012: Sub-contractors. MBDA picks Thales Basingstoke to supply the CAMM laser proximity fuze, under a GBP 11 million contract. Source.
Jan 30/12: Sea Ceptor. The UK MoD issues MBDA a GBP 483 million FLAADS (Future Local Area Air Defence System) Demonstration Phase Contract, which would develop the newly-named “Sea Ceptor” to replace the Vertical Launch Seawolf, and serve on the forthcoming Type 26 frigates. UK MoD | MBDA | British Forces News (incl. video) | Aviation Week.
Sea Ceptor demonstration phase
2006 – 2011
Team Complex Weapons partnership launched, CAMM development included.
FLAADS-L CAMM test
(click to view full)
Sept 13/11: MBDA provides a progress report on early FLAADS-M development:
“Significant achievements are being made in all areas, notably with the development of the FLAADS Command and Control system (featuring greater than 75% re-use of Sea Viper C2 software) and the development of the FLAADS Platform Data Link, both of which are already undergoing trials in MBDA development facilities… The maturity of the CAMM missile design has been shown in a number of important trials in recent months. The novel Soft Vertical Launch concept has been conclusively proven in a number of trials, culminating in a successful ejection and turnover trial that took place on 20th May at MBDA’s Bedfordshire facility… from a truck platform, providing direct read-across to the FLAADS-L programme. Significant progress has also been made with the CAMM RF seeker development, with a series of successful air carry trials having taken place earlier this year.”
March 29/10: The UK and MBDA sign an initial GBP 330 million “Team Complex Weapons Interim Main Gate 1 Partnering Agreement.” One of its items is “Assessment Phase work on… Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS) to equip the Royal Navy’s Future Surface Combatant.” MBDA.
TCW Main Gate 1
Aug 7/09: FLAADS (L). MBDA rolls out its first land-based prototype of the UK’s nascent Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS) at a demonstration to its British Army customer. Janes.
FLAADS(L) prototype
June 2008: Team Complex Weapons is launched as a partnership between the UK Ministry of Defence, MBDA UK, Thales UK, QinetiQ and Roxel UK Ltd. A GBP 250 million Assessment Phase sees its first contract, as GBP 74 million first-year deal for 6 projects, including FLAAD. MBDA [PDF] | QinetiQ.
Team Complex Weapons
July 2006: The UK MoD signals a new approach to fulfilling the UK’s military requirement for Complex Weapons in response to the 2005 Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). The DIS states that missile design is one of the technology elements that Britain must keep in-country. Raytheon makes overtures through its Raytheon UK subsidiary, but it eventually becomes clear that the UK MoD is only interested in MBDA.
Additional Readings
UK MoD DE&S, via National Archives – Team Complex Weapons
MBDA – Team Complex Weapons. See also its CAMM Family, CAMM-L, and CAMM-M pages.
Background: Competitors
Competitors are listed alphabetically by missile name. All are radar-guided, except for Denel’s Umkhonto wich uses Imaging Infrared.
MBDA – Aster PAAMS / SAAM. The Aster-15 is SAAM.
IAI – Barak-1 Ship Point Defense System.
Thales – Crotale Naval Mk3.
DID – RIM-162 ESSM Missile: Naval Anti-Air in a Quad Pack.
Global Security – 9K331 Tor/ SA-15 GAUNTLET/ SA-N-9/ HQ-17.
DID (May 10/11) – South Africa Ordering Umkhonto Mk.2 Air Defense Missiles.
Related Coverage
DID – UK Unveils Draft Defence Industrial Strategy
DID – Britain’s Future Frigates: Type 26 & 27 Global Combat Ships.
DID – DDG Type 45: Britain’s Shrinking Air Defense Fleet. Confirmed as a platform in 2013.
DID (April 10/11) – Contract Kicks Off Production for Thales’ Small LMM/FASGW-L Missiles. Another Team Complex Weapons project, mostly for use by helicopters and UAVs.
DID (July 21/08) – Britain Signs Through-Life Support Deal for Seawolf Missiles