Sea Venom is an Anglo-French lightweight

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

developed by

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.MBDA Inc. US Division Cor ...

to equip the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. The missile is known as ''Anti-Navire Léger'' (ANL) in France and Sea Venom (formerly "Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy)") in the United Kingdom. While initial operating capability had been expected with the Royal Navy in 2022, Sea Venom missiles were reported deployed with Royal Navy

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

helicopters operating as part of the Royal Navy's carrier strike group in 2021. The first test launch, from an AS365 Dauphin helicopter of the French DGA defence procurement agency, was successfully conducted on 21 June 2017.Successful First Test Firing for MBDA Sea Venom / ANL Anti-ship Missile
- Navyrecognition.com, 4 July 2017

Design

Sea Venom is designed as a successor to the French Navy's

AS 15 TT The AS.15 and AS.15TT (in french: "Tous Temps", meaning "All weather") are French anti-ship missiles. It was developed as a replacement for the AS-12 missile. Development In the 1970s two Aerospatiale programs were started to examine potential ...

and Royal Navy's

Sea Skua The Sea Skua is a British lightweight short-range air-to-surface missile (ASM) designed for use from helicopters against ships. It was primarily used by the Royal Navy on the Westland Lynx. Although the missile is intended for helicopter use, Kuw ...

missiles. When in service, Sea Venom will equip

Eurocopter Panther The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS565 Panther is the military version of the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin medium-weight multi-purpose twin-engine helicopter. The Panther is used for a wide range of military roles, including combat assault, f ...

and

NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to NATO requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH90 ...

helicopters in the French Navy and Wildcat helicopters in the Royal Navy. Due to shared characteristics with its predecessors, MBDA claims Sea Venom will be able to readily integrate onto platforms that are already carrying Sea Skua and AS 15 TT. Much like its predecessors, Sea Venom is designed to attack surface targets, such as fast in-shore attack craft ranging in size of between 50–500 tonnes, as well as larger surface targets of up to

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

size. With its 30 kg warhead, the missile is also capable of inflicting significant damage to larger vessels through precision aim point selection, and can also attack static land-based targets. Whilst its precise range is currently unknown, MBDA has stated that the missile has a "long" stand-off range enabling it to be launched from beyond the reach of most modern air defence systems. The missile is capable of several attack modes including

sea skimming Sea skimming is a technique many anti-ship missiles and some fighter or strike aircraft use to avoid radar, infrared detection, and to lower probability of being shot down during their approach to the target. Method Sea-skimming anti-ship missi ...

and "pop up/

top attack Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, where gunfire is fired at a trajectory to make it fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to attain long range, and can be used deliberately to attack a target not suscep ...

." Sea Venom uses an

infrared seeker Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

with the option of "man in the loop"

track-via-missile Track-via-missile or TVM refers to a missile guidance technique which combines features of semi-active radar homing (SARH) and radio command guidance. This avoids the problems with terminal accuracy normally seen by command guided missiles, esp ...

guidance via

data-link A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...

; the high speed two-way data-link transmits the images "seen" by the seeker back to the operator, enabling them to remain in control of the missile throughout its flight in addition to having an autonomous engagement capability. MBDA is also working on a surface-launched variant of the missile.

History

The Royal Navy declared Sea Venom an

initial operating capability Initial operating capability or initial operational capability (IOC) is the state achieved when a capability is available in its minimum usefully deployable form. The term is often used in government or military procurement. The United States D ...

in May 2021 when it deployed them as part of

United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group 21 The United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) was a British-led naval force that was deployed on Operation Fortis from May to December 2021. The Carrier Strike Group is seen as the beginning of the British Government's tilt towards the Indo-P ...

on its maiden deployment to the Pacific. The missile equipped four Wildcat HMA2 helicopters embarked on the strike group's accompanying destroyers.

References

External links

www.defenseindustrydaily.comwww.janes.com - Farnborough 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thales Light Multirole Missile Anti-ship missiles of the United Kingdom United Kingdom defence procurement Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2021

Design

History

See also

References

External links