The Ministry of Defence has told Parliament that the Long-Range Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon remains in its early concept phase, with delivery timelines to be determined subject to the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan.

The written answer, given by Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard on 22 May in response to a question from Ben Obese-Jecty MP for Huntingdon, stated that “the Ministry of Defence continues to mature the requirement and will determine delivery timelines subject to the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan.”

The weapon, known as LRAW, is intended to be fired from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System being fitted to the Royal Navy’s Type 26 and Type 31 frigates and deliver a lightweight or very lightweight torpedo against submarine contacts at extended range, comfortably outmatching the range of current and forecast heavyweight torpedoes.

The Royal Navy issued a request for information to industry in June 2024 seeking details on suitable components, subsystems, or end-to-end solutions, including concepts that repurpose existing booster designs. A global stockpile requirement of 500 missiles was used as the costing assumption in that RFI. The MoD assumed exportability as part of the procurement model.

The programme’s timeline is now tied to the Defence Investment Plan, which was originally expected in autumn 2025 and has still not been published. Several other Royal Navy capability programmes including the Type 83 destroyer are in a similar position, with business case approvals and delivery timelines on hold pending the plan’s release.

Adam Barr
Adam Barr
Based in Glasgow, Adam writes under a pseudonym and covers military affairs and technology across several publications. He brings a background in large-scale operations and event management to his reporting, lending a practical perspective to his work.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

90 COMMENTS

  1. Buy the American missile, it’ll be cheaper. The RAF already operates a mixed American/British LWT pool.

    Unless, of course, they can really see a market to export this to Europe.

    • By ‘American missile’, I mean the new one, not the old VL-ASROC currently in use. The RAN, RN, USN, Bundesmarine and RNoN could all be using the same basic anti-submarine missile.

      • I’ve gained $17,240 only within four weeks by comfortably working part-time from home. Immediately when I had lost my last business, I was very troubled and thankfully I’ve located this project now in this way I’m in a position to receive thousand USD directly from home. Each individual certainly can do this easy work & make more greenbacks online by visiting
        following website—.,.,.,.,.—>>> J­o­b­a­t­Ho­m­e­1.C­o­m

        • I’ve gained $17,240 only within four weeks by comfortably working part-time from home. Immediately when I had lost my last business, I was very troubled and thankfully I’ve located this project now in this way I’m in a position to receive thousand USD directly from home. Each individual certainly can do this easy work & make more greenbacks online by visiting
          following website—.,.,..,.,.,,.,.—>>> P­a­y­A­t­Ho­m­e­1.C­o­m

    • If mk54 is as bad as is rumoured we would be better off with Stingray. I wonder if the dimensions are similar enough we could do a common booster and glide body for both weapons?

      • Oh, that’s a much too sensible thing to do. We must stick with the ‘let’s take a few decades to decide what to build’ then initiate several reviews path. I mean look where it’s got us..

    • Leh,
      Perhaps someone should suggest this as an AUKUS Pillar II project? Three-way split on development funding/three-way split on exports. There have to be surplus items in the collective parts bins in order to cobble something together in near record time. 🤔

  2. 500 seems like a huge stockpile. You need, what, 8 per T26? It’s a pretty niche weapon. I imagine we don’t even have that many Stingrays. I know it’s global but that’s a pretty ambitious export goal.

    • Erich,
      Five hundred “Son of ASROC” munitions may be almost adequate, depending upon PLAN submarine construction schedule over the next decade.

      • Fun fact China has reaching the point it has more more surface combatants and submarines than the USN has heavy weight torpedoes.. infact if the PLAN just sat there and let US SSNs fire all their ADCAPS and every adcap hit and sunk a combatant.. they would still have about 30 combatants left… and that’s today.. they are adding 10-15 new combatants every year..

    • If they use the 8 CAMM farm vls’ for CAMM and CAMM-ER (as on Pakistani corvettes) maybe there’s no need for the the mk41s unless for CAMM-MR? Frees them up for other missiles. If the CAMM farm vls where made into 8s you’d have 32 front and back equivalent to two additional mk41s.
      Not sure if there’s going to be 2×4 NSM for the RN as with Canada and Norway and if also Stratos will be vls onlly as having a high low mix could be useful. It should be q pretty decent ship when fully fitted out.

    • If they use the 8 CAMM farm vls’ for CAMM and CAMM-ER (as on Pakistani corvettes) maybe there’s no need for the the mk41s unless for CAMM-MR? Frees them up for other missiles. If the CAMM farm vls where made into 8s you’d have 32 front and back equivalent to two additional mk41s.
      Not sure if there’s going to be 2×4 NSM for the RN as with Canada and Norway and if also Stratos will be vls onlly as having a high low mix could be useful. It should be q pretty decent ship when fully fitted out.

    • “Warpons” 😁😁😁😁

      That word you used has been weaponised on Navy Lookout quite some time ago, So I remember reading.
      Back In the day when “X” had changed his Identity for the Umpteenth time. You used to give him hell !

      Is he still posting 24/7 ?

  4. With drones able to easily carry torpedos and those drones already being deployed this doesn’t seem like a major priority. Is it even worth taking up precious VLS space.

    • I think they are possibly also considering launching from unmanned/ lean manned platforms Jim, if they have mk41 silos ( with a mix of sea ceptor and ASW missiles) and they are sitting several miles away from their T45/26/31 ‘mother ship’, such a missile could be vital in convoy protection etc, a rapid launch from several such platforms on a sub contact would be very effective.

      • CAMM will be in the 6 farm vls. It will be wasted in mk41s. CAMM-ER maybe and CAMM-MR and Aster absolutely.

        • Morning Quentin, I was thinking more the proposed Mk41 silo in an unmanned/ lean manned platform.

          Astor is unlikely, as only T45 could provide targeting data.

          Camm ER would work well though, I would expect a mix of ASW missiles and Camm on these effectors, perhaps with containerised NSM ( or equivalent) and maybe even containerised towed array systems…

          They have to be reconfigurable and adaptable, perhaps loaded with Astor when teamed with T45..

    • In the end both drones as small ship flights are a bit weather dependent and take time to launch and travel to the target..

      A rocket boosted torpedo can be snap fired and travel 600 mph.. if you want to either immediately drive of a threatening SSN then a rocket boosted torpedo is your answer..

      If you detect an SSN within 25 miles of your carrier you don’t want to give it a second more than you have to as it firms up its kill chain.

      • Wonder if any of these latest torpedos would be any good at tackling Russia’s Poseidon weapon or their sub motherships?

  5. Of course it’s in the conceptphase and being subject to the Delayed Invalidation Project or DIP as it is known. Where else would it be.

  6. The Type 31 doesn’t have any anti submarine Sonar, so it would be a waste of time putting it in it’s Mk41 launchers, if they ever get their Mk41s that is….

    • They could potentially have a hybrid mix of CAMM farm and mk41s like the T26s. I feel the front 40mm can go as there’s the 57mm, maybe can add a pair of 30mm or Phalanx’s upper deck brhind the bridge like on AH140 MNP variant that has 2 mk41 in B. If CAMM is relatively light maybe it can mounted on deck level and not need to be flush with it?

      • The Type 31 doesn’t carry any Captas TAS whatsoever ,save for a possible option of a Pod/Containerised System.

          • Not sure where you’re looking on the Wikipedia? I think you might have confused the Polish version of the ship, which has CAPTAS-2 with the British one, which does not.

          • Yep, as Leh has said, I just checked out Wiki’s T31 page & it is only the Polish version that has Blue Hunter hull sonar and CAPTAS-2 towed sonar.

    • That’s what I think they are talking about around the hybrid navy.. essentially the sensors are distributed.. a couple of autonomous ships will be drifting and dashing with towed arrays.. the T31 just acts as the command hub and controls the kinetic part of the kill chain.

  7. Glue a StringRay onto the front of old Aster boosters, wire-up a low altitude cruise mode & GPS drop of point. 25+km in 1min20sec 🙂 Could probably be done in 6 months if we cut the crap.

      • Irony with a touch a creative eng. sarcasm. Why cant you tell? Why? You betray the wisdom of of your name.

        • Seems you don’t understand irony.
          Yes I saw your use of the lowest form of wit. Says more about you that you’re sarcastic about our military servicemen. 🤷🏻‍♂️

          • Even the lowest form of wit is better than none Spock ! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️.

            Chill out mate, stop being “That Person” all the time.

            • Clearly you do because you tried to reply, couldn’t write anything that made sense, and wrote more drivel instead.

    • Honestly mate, at least I make sensible suggestions…

      ‘Obviously’ it would be manned, I would suggest pigeon guidance, its been done, check out you tube, the fat electrician, pigeon guided glide bomb for details…

      Us Brits even devised a chicken triggered nuclear bomb, I kid you not, again, Fat Electrician…

      • The Russians being proper cynical did a big line in anti tank dogs..

        Train the dog to go under tanks with treats… attach anti tank mine harness to Fido point him at a tank and in a loving proud owner voice go.. under the tank boy there’s a good boy…. Then bang 💥

        Proper evil.

  9. Off Topic (It’s rare for me to do this) . But anyone seen the film “The Bedford Incident” ?
    It’s a rather Interesting film centered around a US destroyers attempts to flush out a Russian N boat that doesn’t end well.

    “ASROC…. Fire One”

    It features Richard Widmark as the captain with Sidney Poitier and a very young Donald Sutherland. Well worth a google.

  10. Can’t beat a good concept phase, then a prolonged design phase, moving on then to a longer trials and evaluation phase, then a cancellation phase, leading to an unaccounted millions phase, followed by a lifetime peerage phase.

    Triple lethality, at pace, world leading……..

    • Insert Initial Gate, then Main Gate as well, before the trials phase.
      And the snouts in the trough phase!
      Meanwhile, the military waits, and might gat something at the end, or might not, depending on the whim of the government of the day.
      Unaccounted millions? They went straight to the MIC, the main objective of the exercise.

      • Yes, just off the top of my head, remember LANCA ? , cancelled, with the budget to be spent on emerging OTS alternatives, that also weren’t purchased. While millions disappeared into a black hole and numerous nests feathered. Peregrine? Still fannying around with one, maybe 2 ? examples, there should be at least one on every ship by now. Still informing decisions apparently.

        • I can see the problem with Peregrine showing up again on the large uncrewed ships. We had to convert HMS Lancaster to make proper use of Peregrine. The CMS had to be updated and communication equipment installed. We’ll have to go through the same solution with the Rivers to get Peregrine flying again, unless we change our mindset.

          We should be delivering Peregrine in a container — a NavyPOD. The connection to the CMS should be through a common PODs interface. Plug in power, plug in data, hoist a comms antenna, and you are ready to go. But we aren’t even thinking about data connectivity for PODs.The standard is all about the container and what goes in the container, not how it’s connected.

          The same is true for the uncrewed container proposals from Navantia, HIi, IAI and so on. How information is to be passed from containerised capability to ship CMS is neither standardised nor thought through. And the problem is worse here than with PODs. With PODs at least you know which ship’s CMS you are trying to connect to. Does your container communicate directly with the crewed hub or the local CMS, or through a second container, or will the uncrewed ship provide a comms relay for all its containers? Different manufacturers have different answers, so containerisation will need adaptation for whichever system they go on and whichever hub ship they are talking to. It’s why Peregrine can’t just plug into a River, and it’ll be why we are storing up a ton of shit for our build-fast hybid Navy.

    • Has super anything ever got very far in British military planning. I can just picture the big wigs spitting out their cigars the moment a super dooper version of an existing platform was posed.

      • Super Etendard got the MoD hot under the collar in 1982! A Squadron of Britain’s finest was going to be thrown away trying to eliminate it.

    • In theory CAMM, Asters and Tomahawks, but CAMM uses a container in the container, the Tomahawks we have are for torpedo tube delivery, and we’ve only just started investigating the Aster connection. However, we also don’t have any Mk41s yet, so it is any surprise that we haven’t sorted their load out?

  13. The delay to the Defence Investment Plan would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. It is now doing real damage to the UK’s standing with allies, our defence industrial strategy and, most importantly, the much needed recapitalisation of our military.

    This is now getting shamefully indecisive.

    CR

    • DIPs left Us in LIMBO …Not sure Why a Political Party or PM in Turmoil should Come before the Defence of the Country…???
      6 Mths And Counting Since We Were Promised DIP….!
      Hardly the War footing the PM Claims…!
      Evidence : THE IRANIAN COFLICT.. !!
      For ALL On The INTERNATIONAL STAGE to See…!!!!

  14. This is a dangerous capability gap as is the lack of. TLS. Rotary assets aren’t ubiquitous whilst also prone to mechanical failure. RU N2s would have a field day and a simple deployment of several sub surface threats would present a serious threat.

  15. Ie its been thought up its doable but we cant be privy details mannor of workings? But chuckles want too and if they dont know them

  16. Yeah pretty much read it all there im not for it myself they have torpeadeos any way hardly need something like that refit etc never happen usefull mine launchers fire lots of tiny mines idea try punch small holes in it . That never take of now days programme a missle side boat drop it in water laptop ffs

  18. In the end these are essentially weapons to snap launch when your in the shite, to distract the close SSN from killing something or push an electric boat away. If you’re actually hunting submarines you would get a rotor to drop torpedoes on it.

    Maybe a simpler way would be to focus on the kingfisher rounds for the T26s 5 inch guns.

    • I’m not super familiar with Kingfisher, but I think there’s a lot that could be done in terms of missile defence with modern 127mm, 76mm and 57mm systems. MAD-FIRES was cancelled a little prematurely, in my opinion.

      • They are an interesting set of 5 inch ASW shells that can be used to fire patterns of depth bombs or sonobouys out to the range of the gun.

    • Nope, ASROC is to prosecute pop up targets of opportunity – the fleeting track that dissapears before helos arrive on station.

  19. I’ve gained $17,240 only within four weeks by comfortably working part-time from home. Immediately when I had lost my last business, I was very troubled and thankfully I’ve located this project now in this way I’m in a position to receive thousand USD directly from home. Each individual certainly can do this easy work & make more greenbacks online by visiting
    following website—.,.,.,.,.—>>> J­o­b­a­t­Ho­m­e­1.C­o­m

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here