UK Seeks Interim Anti-Ship Missile to Replace the Harpoon
Dan Arkin
| 12/03/2019
The Royal Navy's HMS Westminster (Archive photo: AP)
The UK Ministry of Defense has notified bidders of its intention to purchase an interim anti-ship missile as current Harpoon stocks reach end of life and a replacement not being due until 2030.
The MoD has issued a Prior Information Notice (PIN) for “Next Generation Surface Ship Guided Weapon (SSGW)” to equip Royal Navy vessels.
According to the notice, first delivery of the missiles would be required by December 2023. The potential contract will be for four years, with the potential of option years to follow (up to 9 more years).
The technical requirement will be baselined against the user requirements and include questions regarding battlefield effect, terminal effect, interoperability: climatic and environment, munition sensitivity, system and design safety, human factors, deployability, training, sustainability and supply chain, Capability resilience and reliability.
According to the report, possible off-the-shelf alternatives include Lockheed Martin’s Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM); the multi-role variant of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) missile, jointly developed by Kongsberg and Raytheon; Saab’s RBS15 Mk3; the Block II+ variant of Harpoon; and the Exocet MM40 Block 3 system.
[Source: UK Defence Journal]
The Royal Navy's HMS Westminster (Archive photo: AP)
The UK Ministry of Defense has notified bidders of its intention to purchase an interim anti-ship missile as current Harpoon stocks reach end of life and a replacement not being due until 2030.
The MoD has issued a Prior Information Notice (PIN) for “Next Generation Surface Ship Guided Weapon (SSGW)” to equip Royal Navy vessels.
According to the notice, first delivery of the missiles would be required by December 2023. The potential contract will be for four years, with the potential of option years to follow (up to 9 more years).
The technical requirement will be baselined against the user requirements and include questions regarding battlefield effect, terminal effect, interoperability: climatic and environment, munition sensitivity, system and design safety, human factors, deployability, training, sustainability and supply chain, Capability resilience and reliability.
According to the report, possible off-the-shelf alternatives include Lockheed Martin’s Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM); the multi-role variant of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) missile, jointly developed by Kongsberg and Raytheon; Saab’s RBS15 Mk3; the Block II+ variant of Harpoon; and the Exocet MM40 Block 3 system.
[Source: UK Defence Journal]
