The Royal Navy will take delivery of additional Martlet Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems for its Wildcat multi-role helicopters as part of a GBP 176 million deal between the UK government and Thales UK.
The Royal Navy stated that the delivery will see a significant number of the Martlet maritime anti-surface missile systems delivered to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm for use against threats from drones to small, fast attack boats.
Commander Alasdair Lang, Wildcat Maritime Force Commander, said: “The Martlet Missile is crucial in ensuring the Wildcat helicopter remains at the forefront of the RN’s attack capabilities, supporting the protection of shipping and countering more general threats to UK interests across the globe, as most recently demonstrated during deployments to the Red Sea.”
“This announcement underpins the important support provided by DE&S and our industry partners, continuing our strong relationship with them to ensure that frontline maritime Wildcat is suitably equipped.”
Weighting 13 kg and with an operational range of 6 km+, the LMM is a lightweight, precision-strike multirole missile designed to be fired from various tactical platforms on land, sea, and air against a wide range of conventional and asymmetric threats. The intended target set includes surface threats such as static installations, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), asymmetric threats, fast in-shore attack craft, and UAVs.
The LMM can be deployed on a wide range of versatile launcher systems, from standalone portable launchers to being integrated on the rapid response, high firepower RAPIDRanger vehicle system, providing a Close Range Air Defense System capable of destroying threats from light aircraft, helicopters, or UAVs.
