Sweden signs with MBDA for CAMM missiles

The Royal Swedish Navy's Visby-class corvettes are to be fitted with the Sea Ceptor local area anti-air missile system. Space for a vertical launcher installation for CAMM missiles already exists in the weapon deck area beneath the main deck hatch. (MBDA)

Sweden is moving ahead with plans to retrofit MBDA's Sea Ceptor local area anti-air missile system to its five Visby-class corvettes as part of the mid-life upgrade (MLU) for the class.

The country's Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk: FMV) on 16 November announced it had signed a sales agreement that day with MBDA UK for the supply of the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) munition associated with the Sea Ceptor system.

Installation work on the first corvette is planned to start late next year, according to FMV.

Originally developed by MBDA UK to meet the UK Royal Navy's future local area air-defence requirement, Sea Ceptor is designed to protect the host ship and vessels in consort from a range of air threats, including anti-ship cruise missiles and fighter ground-attack aircraft. CAMM, as the effector for the system, employs active radar homing (supported by mid-course guidance updates) to deliver an all-weather engagement capability against targets out to a range of 25 km.

The incorporation of an active radar seeker and datalink in the missile means CAMM does not require a dedicated fire-control radar. Instead, by exploiting the track-while-scan functionality offered by a standard 3D surveillance radar for target indication and intercept point prediction, CAMM missiles can ‘launch on search' to prosecute multiple simultaneous air threats.