The Ministry of Defence has outlined ongoing work to enhance the firepower of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet as part of a broad modernisation drive.
In response to a written question from Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the Navy is “undertaking a significant programme to modernise and increase the lethality of the Fleet.”
He noted that “the introduction of Sea Venom and the Naval Strike Missile are key aspects of this programme, which will be followed by further capability upgrades over the next few years.”
According to the Ministry of Defence, these efforts form part of a wider strategy to ensure the Royal Navy retains the ability to counter evolving maritime threats through next-generation precision weapons and system upgrades.
The Naval Strike Missile (NSM) recently achieved its first successful live firing during Exercise Aegir 25 in Norway’s Arctic region, where HMS Somerset launched the weapon alongside Norwegian and Polish allies. The test marked what the Royal Navy described as a major milestone in strengthening its strike capability, demonstrating the deep cooperation between the UK and Norway in maritime defence.
Pollard said at the time that “the NSM is one of the most advanced missiles in our naval arsenal” and that its introduction “will give the Royal Navy and our allies an edge against our enemies.” The missile can engage both sea and land targets at ranges beyond 100 miles and is being integrated across the Type 23 and Type 45 fleets.
Could it be possible to develop a land variant? Similar to what the Yanks did with Tomohawks.
Poland already operates it from land
Fair enough. Probably wouldn’t be a terrible idea if the UK did something similar.
It’d be expensive to host an RA Regiment for the sole purpose of using these weapons, when the scenarios needed for them to be employed are practically doomsday level. Better to have the plans and expertise in place to know that it can be done, and leave it at that.
I’d argue there’s better ways to spend the cash at the moment, such as additional T31 orders.
What we really need is a credible air-launched anti shipping weapon for F35B. It’d not only solve the home defence problem more effectively than a land launched weapon, it’d also increase lethality of any QE task force. Strangely though, it seems to be amazingly low on the priority list for the RN.
Where’s the mention of any quantities here? Wasn’t it 11 sets of 8? For all the T45s, T23s, T26s, and T31s might need more than 11 sets if you’re going to need cover every ship prior to FC/ASW and have reserves. And any JSM for F35Bs, Typhoons and P8s?