Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Thales in the UK have teamed up to offer the Sea Serpent anti-ship missile for the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates.
Based on the Gabriel family of sea skimming anti-ship missiles, Sea Serpent delivers a combined anti-ship and land attack capability at ranges in excess of 200 km.
IAI and Thales are offering the Sea Serpent for the interim Royal Navy surface-to-surface guided weapon (SSGW) program to fill the the gap in the surface-to-surface anti-ship missile capability left by the withdrawal of the Harpoon missile from service.
Sea Serpent deploys an RF seeker head and a data analysis and weapon control system to provide precise target detection, discrimination and classification.
IAI said the missile overcomes both kinetic counter-fire and electronic countermeasures of increasing sophistication, so that the it can locate and attack its target in littoral, open-ocean and overland environments. What is more, in fast-moving situations, Sea Serpent incorporates mid-course updates from real-time ISTAR feeds and the ability to re-task in flight, especially in cooperative engagements and distributed sensor-and-shooter networks.
IAI noted that the missile was developed in parallel with similar missile systems in service with the Israeli Navy and was selected to provide strike capabilities for Finland’s SSM2020 program. These systems are based on the heritage of the Gabriel family of surface-to-surface missiles.
