The joint British-French Sea Venom / Anti-Navire Leger (ANL) missile development program, run by MBDA for the French and British Defense Ministries, took off last June with the first successful launch from a Dauphin helicopter on a test site in the south of France; at the end of 2018, a series of guided launches of this rocket is scheduled. The Sea Venom / ANL project is being implemented in accordance with British and French requirements, respectively Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy) and Anti Navire Leger (ANL), with the aim of replacing outdated anti-ship missiles, the British Sea Skua and the French AS15TT. The requirements define a multipurpose, light missile weighing 110 kg and a length of about 2.5 meters, designed to destroy surface targets within a radius of about 20 km; it must develop a high subsonic speed and be launched from a helicopter. The rocket with the engine start after separation from the carrier includes an uncooled thermal imaging seeker developed by Safran with advanced image processing (with the possibility of integrating an additional channel for laser semi-active homing), a two-way communication channel for involving the operator in the control loop, and an armor-piercing fragmentation warhead weighing 30 kg.
While the rocket can fly completely independently in several modes, including flight at extremely low altitude above the sea surface, operator control will enable modes such as re-targeting during flight, correction / refinement of the aiming point and safe termination of the mission. In the presence of laser semi-active homing, the missile will be able to capture targets out of sight thanks to laser target designation from a third-party platform. In the tail section there is a starting engine, in the middle of the body there is a main engine with a ventral nozzle directed downward. The Sea Venom / ANL missile, designed to perform missions both on the high seas and on the coast in an environment of interference from local objects, according to the plan will go into service with the AW159 Wildcat helicopters of the British Navy, while the French Navy will arm its new HIL (Helicoptere Interarmees Leger). The missile, capable of striking a variety of vessels from a safe distance, ranging from fast harbor boats, mid-size missile boats to large vessels such as corvettes, can be mounted on a wide variety of platforms. For example, air transport tests were conducted to demonstrate the missile's compatibility with existing Lynx helicopters.
American developments
The US Navy's need to maintain control of the sea in the face of new opportunities from major opponents seeking to create a zone deny / blockage (A2 / AD) network, coupled with an ongoing struggle for resources, forced the Navy to develop a strategy of "Distributed Lethality", which provides for re-equipment, reconfiguration and reorientation of the surface fleet in order to take a more open "offensive" position. In order to meet the urgent needs for anti-ship capabilities, the US Navy is working to update existing and introduce new ship and air-based weapons systems along with the anti-ship version of the Raytheon SM-6 surface-to-air missile.
In an effort to restore long-range anti-ship capabilities that were lost when the Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile (TASM) variant was decommissioned in the 1990s, the US Navy is developing another variant of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST). In accordance with the accelerated deployment program, Raytheon was awarded a contract last fall to integrate a new multi-mode seeker into an unapproved number of Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) or Block IV missiles so that they can capture targets moving at sea. Reportedly, the new multi-mode passive-active seeker will have a modular multifunctional processor, which, in combination with a navigation and communication kit, will allow the Tomahawk rocket to operate more freely in difficult jamming conditions or in A2 / AD conditions. In accordance with this program, a more reliable communication system based on a new advanced architecture will also be implemented, which will replace the existing two-way satellite communication channel and add an M-code GPS coding module.
In parallel with the joint US-British development of a multipurpose warhead and the ongoing improvement of the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS), which is characterized by an increased level of cybersecurity, during the Block IV missile recertification program, which will begin in 2019, the communication and navigation systems will be modernized. RPC MST. These improvements will also affect the British arsenal, which will extend their service life by another 15 years (a total of 30 years) and, thus, the Tomahawk missiles will remain in service with the Royal Navy until the end of the 2040s. Meanwhile, all American Block III missiles are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2018 (it's not hard to guess how this will be done). Long-term replacement of the Tomahawk will be guaranteed under the NGLAW (Next Generation Land Attack Weapon) rocket development program, which will be able to attack ground and sea targets from surface and submarine platforms, at the first stage complementing and then completely replacing the Tomahawk weapons systems. The initial date for entering service with the NGLAW rocket is scheduled for 2028-2030.
Further development and expansion of the family of Boeing AGM / UGM / RGM-84 Harpoon weapons systems is in strict accordance with the American law on the sale of weapons and military equipment to foreign countries. In February, the Office of Military Cooperation of the US Department of Defense announced the possible sale to Finland of the latest RGM-84Q-4 Harpoon Block II + ER ship-based missile along with Harpoon Block II missiles (RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II), in connection with which this Northern European the country will become the start-up buyer of the new variant. The new variant, also offered as an upgrade kit for the Block II model, is expected to go into service with Hamina-class missile boats, new multipurpose corvettes and coastal batteries. Harpoon Block II Plus Extended Range (Block II + ER) is described by Boeing as "a weapon system that combines the best features of the Harpoon Block II + and Harpoon Extended Range (ER) models and offers operators upgrade options that will enhance their capabilities at a fraction of the cost." …
The latter variant more than doubles the range of the current Harpoon missile (more than 124 km according to the US Navy) thanks to a more efficient engine, successfully tested in tests, and an additional volume of fuel, which made it possible to increase the range without changing the overall characteristics of the rocket. Thus, it remained compatible with the existing launch infrastructure and service systems and at the same time retained all its all-weather autonomous and over-the-horizon capabilities to carry out missions to combat surface and ground targets.
According to the US Navy, the capabilities, including reliability and survivability, of the air-launched AGM-84N Harpoon Block II + missiles have been significantly improved thanks to the new GPS guidance kit. while the new Link 16 data link allows you to adjust the trajectory, re-target or cancel the task during flight, not to mention increased resistance to electronic jamming. The rocket can be launched from a variety of air and ground / surface platforms. At the end of 2018, the US Navy will install Harpoon Block II + missiles on F / A-18E / F Super Hornet fighters, and next year on P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft.
In accordance with the US Navy's OASuW (Offensive Anti-Surface Weapon) program, the AGM-158C LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile) extended-range anti-ship missile is being developed by Lockheed Martin, which in May 2016 received a contract for the final revision, integration and delivery of experimental system samples. In July 2017, the US Navy issued a contract for the first production batch of LRASM missiles, which will allow operations to combat critical surface warships protected by complex air defense systems with long-range surface-to-air missiles. The LRASM variant, a further development of the AGM-158B JASSM-ER (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range) cruise missile, is equipped with a new sensor kit designed specifically for anti-ship missions. The LRASM missile, loaded with a 1,000-pound APU, uses a data link, enhanced digital jam-resistant GPS and a multi-mode homing system to locate and destroy specific targets within a group of ships. The sensor kit, which includes a passive radio frequency head for long-range target acquisition and an electro-optical head for targeting on the end of the trajectory, was developed by BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration. According to the schedule, prototypes of missiles will be installed on B-1 bombers by the end of 2019 and on F / A-18E / F fighters by the end of 2020.
Lockheed Martin has been tirelessly developing the LRASM family. She has developed and successfully tested two surface / ground-based options, having made several launches from land and ship installations. In addition to the version launched from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), Lockheed Martin is developing a version of a deck-mounted inclined installation based on the same VLS installation, but with a resettable Mk 114 rocket booster (and an adapter for this engine) in order to obtain sufficient reactive power for climb.
To support its distributed lethality strategy, the US Navy in the summer of 2015 began a program to develop an over-the-horizon weapon system (OTH-WS) anti-ship missile to enhance the combat capabilities of coastal warships and new missile frigates. The US Navy, taking into account the requirements for weight and volume, requires finished products; the basic system should include one fire control system and two to four-tube launchers, each with two to four missiles. The contenders for the program were Boeing with the latest version of the Harpoon rocket, Lockheed Martin with its LRASM and the Raytheon-Kongsberg group with the NSM rocket. However, Boeing and Lockheed Martin voluntarily withdrew from the competition due to the exclusion of some key capabilities from their missiles, for example, work in a single network and in-flight trajectory correction, leaving the Raytheon-Kongsberg group as the only contender for the OTH-WS project.
