The Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced that the new Land Ceptor missile system has completed its first successful firing trials.
Trials of the new weapon system took place close to the Baltic Sea on a Swedish test fire range, with a missile being launched from a vehicle and destroying an aerial target in a display of the new weapon’s accuracy and power.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “In the face of intensifying threats, it is vital that our Armed Forces have the capabilities to keep Britain safe.
“Land Ceptor will be a formidable battlefield barrier, protecting our troops from strikes and enemy aircraft while on operations.”
Built by MBDA, Land Ceptor comprises the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), a launcher vehicle and two fire unit support vehicles. It is being developed to protect British troops on operations from aerial threats, including hostile combat aircraft and air-launched munitions.
The trial, which followed previous munitions tests, was the first time Land Ceptor had been test-fired as a whole system, including the cutting-edge SAAB Giraffe radar.
The missiles can be launched in quick succession to defeat as many as eight different threats at once, even if obstacles such as trees and terrain are in the way.
The system will now undergo further development and trials before Sky Sabre enters service, in the early 2020s.
The development and manufacture of Land Ceptor is enabled through a £250 million contract between Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) and MBDA. Work to develop both Land Ceptor and Sea Ceptor is sustaining 760 MBDA jobs in the UK.
DE&S Director Weapons, Richard Smart, said: “This trials firing is an important stepping stone towards bringing Land Ceptor into service with the British Army as part of the wider Sky Sabre air defence system. Land Ceptor performed as expected and the firing has helped us to verify innovative modelling of overall system performance.”
image © Crown Copyright
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