The Swedish Navy’s five Visby-class corvettes will be upgraded with the British-designed Sea Ceptor air defence missile system, under a new SEK 1.6 billion contract awarded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to Saab.
The integration of MBDA’s Sea Ceptor represents a significant boost in both Swedish and NATO maritime air defence capabilities.
Announced this week, the deal will see Saab begin work in 2026 to modify the stealthy Visby-class vessels and install the system, replacing their current short-range defences with a much more capable area air defence solution.
According to Saab, the addition of Sea Ceptor will allow the corvettes to protect “a considerably larger area and engage air targets at longer ranges compared to the existing weapon systems currently on board.” The system uses the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), developed in the UK by MBDA, which has already been fielded by the Royal Navy and other allied fleets.
“This modification strengthens both Sweden’s and NATO’s air and missile defence by increasing the Swedish Armed Forces’ operational capability and ability to operate across the entire conflict spectrum,” said Mats Wicksell, Head of Saab’s business area Kockums. “With the air defence system on board, the Visby-class corvettes will continue to be a vital platform for many years to come.”
Sweden had previously ordered Sea Ceptor missiles directly from MBDA, but this latest contract confirms Saab’s role in adapting the Visby-class ships for integration.
Sea Ceptor has been chosen by a growing number of NATO navies, including those of the UK, Canada, and Poland, and provides both point and area defence against fast jets, helicopters, drones, and precision-guided munitions. It can be quad-packed into a single launcher cell and features soft-launch technology, reducing deck stress and improving survivability.
A bit of background
The Visby class is a class of stealth corvettes developed by Sweden and operated by the Swedish Navy. Designed and built by Kockums (a subsidiary of Saab), these vessels are notable for their advanced stealth characteristics, with a hull constructed from carbon fibre reinforced plastic to reduce radar cross-section. The corvettes displace approximately 640 tonnes, are 72.7 metres in length, and are optimised for operations in the littoral waters of the Baltic Sea.
Sea Ceptor is a ship-based, all-weather, surface-to-air missile system developed by MBDA for naval air defence. It employs the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), which provides point and local area air defence against a range of aerial threats including aircraft, missiles, and precision-guided munitions. The system uses active radar homing and does not require dedicated fire control radars, instead relying on mid-course guidance updates and a two-way data link. Sea Ceptor’s soft vertical launch system enables the missile to be ejected before its rocket motor ignites, minimising launcher wear and deck damage.
One of Sea Ceptor’s core capabilities is its high rate of fire and ability to simultaneously engage multiple targets, which makes it suitable for defending against saturation attacks. The system has a range of more than 25 kilometres and a high degree of manoeuvrability, allowing it to counter fast-moving and agile threats.
Sea Ceptor is modular and scalable, allowing it to be fitted to various ship classes, from frigates to smaller vessels. It has been selected by multiple navies including those of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Chile, and Brazil. Its relatively compact footprint and lack of requirement for dedicated target illumination radars make it particularly well-suited to vessels with limited space and weight margins.
We really need Sea Ceptor on all platforms now. If we can develop its software to provide point defence against SRBM then it can meet all the defensive needs for the MRSS, Carriers, T26/T31/T45 all using the cold gas ejection system.
Given the speed of the weapon I don’t see any reason why it can’t provide point defence against an SRBM. It was said that sea wolf which was much less capable could engage naval shells which is a similar speed and profile to an anti ship ballistic missile.
The T26 can also potentially hold twin packed CAMM MR in their Mk41 VLS giving a limited area defence capability and making them much more of a general purpose destroyer with both Anti submarine and limited AAW capabilities.
The artisan 3D does have the ability to track and target ballistic missiles so this should all be very cheap to do as it’s largely software that is required.
Agree with all of that Jim, the ASRAAM baseline missiles are proving terminally effective to Russian drones, helicopters, cruise missiles and aircraft over Ukraine. Production needs to be ramped up for sea ceptor – which is part of what MDMA are doing with their doubling of workforce, the cost per missile needs to come down, which I am sure it is with such widescale and ever growing international sales for the system. The RN should be mounting these weapons on as many platforms as possible- including a small VLS system and NSM cannisters and 40mm bofors on all the river class- making them far more capable at constabulary work with a useful secondary function as a light escort or close protection vessel for a capital ship.
The RFA’s easily have enough space to mount a couple of 40mm bofors and a sea ceptor launcher with associated radar and combat management system.- Im guessing that would be a high intensity war upgrade but would be great to be prepared for a high intensity war before it actually happens and we are already in the poo.
CAMM MR Should have been fitted to Type 45. 16 Mk 41 VLS could have been fitted with 2 CAMM MR each giving 24 missiles. Instead MoD went for a mushroom farm that can only take standard CAMM. The carrier should also get CAMM. Every other major carrier has both a gun and missile defence. The
MoD decided to penny pinch and under armed the carriers.
those Visby corvettes prove not all ships have to be built the size of a cruiser.we know it why doesn’t anyone else,?
I guess because the Visby can be petite, as it will just be tooling around the Baltic Sea. So no need for great big fuel tanks, ammo storage, fancy radar etc equipment, such as on a big fancy go anywhere do anything “See the World” fancy RN type.
First and foremost I am out of my depth here. However would these corvette be of any use in and around our own coasts, we see the reports of Ivan buggering around Scotland and my impression is that as a first as well as last line of defence they could be “worth their weight in gold” in various roless.
CAMM-MR isn’t ready, probably wont be for quite a while. I’d rather quad pack CAMM-ER so it sits alongside alongside CAMM and Aster. The real elephant in the room is AESA seekers. Neither Aster nor CAMM-Any have this. In fact CAMM-Any is basically a miniaturised Aster seeker relying on burn-through PESA.
There is no CAMM-MR. It still being designed.
To be honest they could replace all the low density mushroom farms with these 3 cell ExLS launchers.. each one takes up about the same space as a 6 cell CAMM mushroom farm.. but can instead hold 12 CAMM.. you could easy give each T26 4 3 cell ExLs launchers in place each of its 2 4 x6 mushroom farms.. for 96 CAMM.. put 4 3 cell ExLs in place of the planned 4×6 mushroom farms on the T45 for 48 CAMM instead of 24… T34 you could easily give it 4 3 cell ExLs for 48 CAMM.
If as it looks like the budget is going up a lot and lethality needs to be upped replacing the mushroom farms with ExLs is a way to go….
Indeed, CAMM-MR should be able to tackle a SRBM, given missiles such as IRIS-T SLM can also do the same.
Where have the experts on these subjects all gone ? Until rather recently, these subjects would have been awash with comments from Gunbuster and Sailorsam and Airborne and so on and so forth.
Come back guy’s, your platform needs you.
Farouk, too…
a few of the previous posters have gone quiet of late, maybe we’re just getting old and forgetful
Pensions come in so they are all down the pub.
best place to go
I do wonder if we will start to see 3 cell ExLS launchers on RN escorts.. very compact easy to install.. each 3 cell unit takes 12 CAMM that’s a lot of missile density for the size and weight.
As the deference budget starts to loosen up ( we know from Robinson the government are now going to 3% by 2030..ready for the NATO 3.5% by 2032j I wonder if the low density mushroom farms get replaced by these.. you could fit a lot of 3 cell ExLs launchers on a T26 or T31 will a hell of mix of CAMM and and CAM ER/MR to cover all threat ranges.
I’ll bet the Visbys get them quicker than our T45s.