December 2nd, 2014 defencetalk.com

The Brazilian Navy has selected MBDA’s Sea Ceptor to provide the local area air defence for its next generation Tamandaré class corvettes. After the UK’s Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), Brazil’s is now the third navy to have chosen Sea Ceptor. With discussions also well advanced with other leading navies around the world, Sea Ceptor is rapidly establishing a significant user community.

A production contract was awarded by the UK MoD in September 2013 for Sea Ceptor to provide the next generation Air Defence capability and so replace the Seawolf system on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates from 2016 onwards. Sea Ceptor will subsequently be transferred to the Royal Navy’s new ships as they start entering service, when the Type 23s are replaced by the future Type 26s. This long term commitment to Sea Ceptor by the Royal Navy is a solid assurance to each new member of the weapon’s user community of the longevity of this new system over the years to come.

Sea Ceptor provides all-weather, night and day, 360° local area air defence coverage against multiple simultaneous targets including sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, helicopters and fast combat jets. In facing saturating attacks posed by a range of diverse threats, Sea Ceptor has a clear advantage thanks to its advanced technology, active radar seeker. The weapon is also capable of engaging surface targets.

A major feature lies in Sea Ceptor’s soft launch technology which does away with the need for a launcher efflux management system, thereby reducing overall mass and onboard footprint characteristics. This allows greater flexibility for the customer in choosing the weapon’s installation position, a particularly important feature for smaller vessels. It also allows for easy installation as a retrofit on older ships.

With a significant presence in five European countries and within the USA, in 2013 MBDA achieved a turnover of 2.8 billion euros with an order book of 10.8 billion euros. With more than 90 armed forces customers in the world, MBDA is a world leader in missiles and missile systems.

MBDA is jointly held by Airbus Group (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%), and Finmeccanica (25%).

Oct 9, 2013 ASDNews Source : MBDA

The New Zealand MoD has confirmed its preferred tenderers for the Royal New Zealand Navy’s (RNZN) ANZAC Frigate Systems Upgrade project to include MBDA as the provider of Sea Ceptor for the Local Area Air Defence (LAAD) system; subject to the New Zealand (NZ) Government’s final approval to proceed. Sea Ceptor will equip frigates HMNZ Te Kaha and Te Mana with the latest generation naval air defence system capable of protecting not only the host ship but also combined joint allied forces in the vicinity.

Following a meeting in Wellington on 4th October 2013, Mr Des Ashton, the NZ MoD Deputy Secretary of Defence (Acquisition), said: “The primary objective of the ANZAC Frigate Systems Upgrade project is to restore the ship’s combat capability and utility to a comparative level to that of a current generation, new release Combat System.  This is required to counter the combined challenges of an increased level of threat sophistication coupled with obsolescence of some of the current systems.  We also want to leverage off advances in technology over the past 20 years and incorporate additional functionality and performance through the selection of modern Combat System Elements.  The LAAD Sea Ceptor system is a key component of the overall project ensuring that crucial constituents of the RNZN fleet are best equipped to respond to the emerging threats and protect not only the frigates themselves but also high value units in company.”

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Sep. 10, 2013 - by ANDREW CHUTER  - Defense News

At DSEi, Defense Minister Also Resists EU 'Interference'

LONDON — Britain’s Defence Secretary Philip Hammond opened this year’s DSEi defense and security exhibition in London with a £250 million (US $391 million) deal for missile maker MBDA and a broadside for European Union plans to reform the defense sector.

Hammond announced the production deal for the Sea Ceptor missile, which will provide air defense for the Royal Navy’s Type 23 and later Type 26 frigate fleet.

The contract follows a £483 million development deal, signed in December 2011, to get the missile into service in 2016.

The Sea Ceptor, the naval variant of the Common Anti-air Modular Missile, is the first of several contracts or selection announcements due this week at DSEi.

BAE Systems is likely to roll out several suppliers selected for the Royal Navy’s upcoming Type 26 frigate program. Rolls-Royce, with the MT30 gas turbine, is likely to top the list of suppliers announced on Wednesday.

An order for a fourth F-35B joint strike fighter to join three jets already delivered to the British for operational evaluation is possible by the end of the week.

While the missile industry here will have welcomed the defense secretary’s speech, the same can’t be said of the European Union.

Hammond said Britain will resist EU attempts to interfere in the defense market as outlined in a policy paper published by the commission in July.

The British are invariably opposed to further regulations and oversight by Brussels and are expected to hold a referendum in the next few years on whether to stay in the European Union.

Hammond told this DSEi audience of industry executives and military personnel that on this issue, his German counterpart has also been expressing reservations about the ideas scheduled to be considered at a EU defense ministers summit in December.

The British defense secretary said that some of the proposals, such as improving competition in the internal defense market and support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, were welcome

Other proposals were not. “Interference in defense exports and government-to-government defense sales represent a significant extension of the commission’s role and is not necessarily in the best interests of the UK defense industry and will be resisted,” Hammond said. “We will carefully eye potential interference from Brussels,” he said

“We don’t believe, and we are not alone — my German counterpart speaks with vigor in this area as well — that increased competitiveness in the defense industry means actually more competition, not less. We cannot embrace a solution that feels like somebody in Brussels is directing some kind of latter-day command policy,” Hammond said.

“For Europe to stand a chance in the global defense industry of the future we have to have products that are exportable. It’s no longer going to be enough for three or four European countries to get together. Typically that will not create enough demand. We want to to see an approach supportive of the industry which doesn’t try and deliver that support by imposing a solution which is actually anti-competitive. The UK would be very resistant to that,” he said.

The Brussels policy paper recommends a series of reforms aimed at what the EU reckons is required to create a more competitive and efficient defense and security in the face of falling defense budgets across the region.

Howard Wheeldon, of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory, said Hammond’s attack on Brussels was “absolutely justified and the words he used were the [ones] industry would support. However, actions speak louder than words.”