The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is expected to finalise a contract for the acquisition of additional Aster 30 air defence missiles for the Royal Navy, following the successful conclusion of negotiations.
Maria Eagle, Minister of State for Defence, confirmed the imminent contract placement today.
Eagle explained that the contract would be placed through the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), the multinational procurement agency responsible for coordinating European defence projects. “Negotiations to purchase Aster 30 have concluded, and a contract placement, via the multinational procurement agency OCCAR, is expected imminently,” she said.
The Aster 30 missiles are designed to protect ships against aerial threats, including fast jets, drones, and incoming missiles. They are deployed on the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers as part of the Sea Viper missile system, which forms the backbone of the fleet’s air defence capability.
While the procurement of Aster 30 missiles is moving forward, the Royal Navy is phasing out the shorter-range Aster 15 missiles as part of its ongoing upgrade to the Sea Viper CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) system.
Eagle reconfirmed the transition, stating, “The shorter-range Aster 15 munition is being phased out under the replacement programme Sea Viper CAMM.”
Despite the absence of recent meetings between the UK Defence Secretary and his French counterpart, the procurement of Aster 30 highlights the ongoing collaboration between the UK and its European partners.
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Positive news. Will be quite impressive air cover for a RN carrier in the future. Types 45’s with the upgraded Aster missiles plus Sea Ceptor. On top of that the type 26. Takes time, but will be good to see when all is in place.
Type 45s getting NSM too. Would like to have seen MK41 fitted which would provide a lot more versatility but when the upgrades are complete, they will be even more awesome ships!
Mk41 is ‘another thing’ to get working on T45.
Whilst adding then from launch would have been ideal adding them now is more time in dock.
Those T45s need to be clocking up the nautical miles.
Surely it wouldn’t take any longer to fit Mk41 than it will to fit the CAMM farm since they’d both go into the same slot?
I can only guess that the CAMM launcher is vastly cheaper.
I think the suggestion was that adding the Mk41 now would result in even more time in refit. Apart from that, Mk41 has some disadvantages as well. The RN has nothing to launch from the Mk41 (except TLAM, though I’m unsure if our sub-launched TLAM are Mk41 capable), and it’s far more expensive than the GWS.35 VLS.
I think they used second hand ones from decommissioned 23’s.
If not mk41s then even 2x ExLS would have given 48 loadout. They can also try and squeeze a couple more 6 or 4 silos down the sides to get the CAMM count up.
They must planning for the missiles for the mk41s on the T26s and T31s. If anything is needed in a hurry it will need to come from US stocks. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any cannister plugs that would allow MBDA/ Sylver missiles to be fired from mk41s and vice versa.
What do you mean down the sides. There is no VLS depth down the sides. And Exls is not as cheap as CAMM cells. Also have to consider that missiles have to be bought to fill the tubes. They can’t put double on there if they can’t afford the missiles
Isn’t ExLS 3-Cell for CAMM
@Hugo, i don’t think CAMM has to go into and through the deck. Look at the T23 it’s basically all above deck. Same can be done on the T45s with more covering. We’ll see what they do with the 24 CAMM silo and can always hope for more!
I think we need to earmark any Mk41s purchased towards T26 and T31. The T45s are getting enough upgrades.
It is disappointing that the T31s will initially go into service without the Mk41s simply because the MOD has not purchased them yet.
As I keep saying, all of this is speculation.
MoD have pointedly not refreshed any statements of T31’s initial weapons fit.
We only have a few more months, hopefully, before we know some *real hard facts*…..
And I repeat again there has to be a reason that MoD & RN are being so placid with Babcock over the very real delays. Something, still unknown, was negotiated when the deal was reset post COVID inflation. That I am sure of.
They replaced 2 x 6 tonne diesels with 3 × 10 tonne diesels to overcome the GT intercooler issue. The bigger engines would also need mountings , perhaps bigger diesel tanks and all the associated kit.
An 8 cell Mk41 module weighs 14 tonnes approx according to online search. Then add the missiles.
The ships might be maxed out in terms of growth, hence a lighter Camm system might be all that can fit?
The new diesel engines are all low down in the superstructure so would pose limited stability and weight issues, as opposed to weapons system upgrades which are usually higher up or in the case of the radar very high up.
No need for extra diesel tanks either, the existing ones are sufficient. In normal use you don’t run everything at full power all the time.
The new diesels are far more efficient than the GT’s.
So range, on the same tank size, is increased.
The GT’s are no longer needed for cruise speed and hotel load.
I thought they planned to add these so they could use tomahawks; after the red sea situaiton theydecided it was no good being unable to fire on-shore right?
I can’t remember any discussions on the inability to use TLAM from Ships in the Red Sea. Aircraft from Cyprus is still the go too option, When NSM becomes more widespread in the Fleet they can offer a Snapshot opportunity at least.
I assume this new batch are of the Block 1 standard, rather than buying block 0, only to upgrade them later?
It might be the 1NT – it depends when this order begins manufacturing, though I’d agree that Block 1 is more likely. Good either way.
You’d expect so. They have already switched to the new standard in land systems and the UK has a contract to upgrade their current ones before IOC in 2028.
I guess after the Red Sea expenditure there are fewer missiles needing the upgrade anyway. The only concern is whether the RN has enough block 0 left in reserve, or if they can fire block 1 with their current systems at a lesser level of performance.
@Hugo. Down the sides of the Aster silo walls. This looks roughly the same height of CAMM but might need to have some penetration deck work done. The forward CAMM silo is likely to be raised up from the deck so this should be able to continue around and down the sides to some degree. But I could be wrong. Money can be found as can getting value for money and not wasting money. Just would like to see a tad more than 24 CAMM on these ships if space allows.
The T45s will have a decent missile load out, it would be better to see the RN take part in the Aster 30 Block 1 NT program as that would then provide cover for Medium range ballistic missile and any possibility present threat IE the DF21.
Currently that’s planned to not even be looked at until around 2030 after they get block 1 running. I think B1NT only test fired in October so I don’t know how long until the naval version is operational.
Well, thats good news on the Aster 30 missiles!
Any chance of some to defend our airfields?
Makes some sense especially if the inventories are large enough for sharing. Just need the rest of SAMP/T system! I read somewhere that there’s a new CAMM-MR hub being set up in Bristol for development of the Anglo-Polish Narew system. So that might become part of the UK GBAD for airfields and don’t forget ports, infrastructure and the rest of the country! Seems like stuff is happening in the background at least!
The good thing is that we do, at least, have missile technology that works.
So the R&D spend is vindicated.
And potential state level enemies have to take into calculus a large number of effective and not crazy expensive CAMM shots on an RN fleet.
Do we know how many? Just enough to replace those expended in the Red Sea or building a bit of depth?
Wasted them all in the red sea
Get those retired aster 15 off to Ukraine. Unlikely they have much life left for storage. Don’t know if the manufacturer buys them back.
The plan is to remanufacture Aster 15 into Aster 30 Standard Missiles, with the Sea Ceptor taking over the Short Range Role. There won’t be any spare to send to Ukraine.
I think the French have just doubled the range of their Aster 15s too so they must have reworked current or are building new.
From what I have read the missile is the same in the two variants, the main difference being the boaster.
The UK is planning to upgrade it’s stock of A15 to A30 block 1 standard I believe…
Cheers CR
That is what was announced.
As others have said the top bit of the A15/30 missile is exactly the same so the booster will be added to parts from the existing stocks.
No wastage there.
Missiles are generally fired off closest to expiry first for stock rotation reasons.
So if there are significant components that are not extendable then that missile gets used as a practise/system verification shot.