Seawolf Mid-Life Update
13 Jul 2008
The threats warships face from missile attack were horrifically illustrated during the Falkland War, with the smoke pouring from HMS Sheffield after she was struck by an Exocet missile remaining one of the defining images of the conflict.
In the years since then, the danger to ships has grown even greater, with new projectiles that travel faster, at a lower altitude and which even have the ability to undertake evasive manoeuvres.
To counter this threat, BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies is delivering the £300m Seawolf Mid-Life Update (SWMLU) programme that will provide the Royal Navy’s Type 22 and Type 23 frigates with the world’s most capable ship self defence system. SWMLU has just been installed on HMS Sutherland, the first of 17 frigates that will receive it.
Captain Brian Archibald, SHORAD IPT leader, reinforced the improvement that the upgraded system will bring about: “This upgrade will greatly enhance the operational capability of our frigates by enabling them to defend against the latest missiles. Its performance represents the tremendous advances in technology since the original system was installed.”
Stephen Hall, SWMLU System Design Authority, said the new system was able to detect at long range, track and destroy an object the size of a cricket ball travelling at twice the speed of sound. SWMLU builds upon the existing Seawolf Point Defence Missile System that has been in service with the Royal Navy since 1979. However, Stephen said that to meet existing and predicted threats through to 2025 and beyond, the project had taken Seawolf back “almost to a clean sheet of paper”.
At the heart of SWMLU’s capability is an advanced sensor suite especially developed by Insyte, featuring radar and thermal imaging. Stephen said that for the I band radar system, the only thing retained from the original Seawolf was the antenna. “All of the above and below decks electronics, such as the receiver, the signal processor, the transmitter and the synthesiser are all brand new developments,” he said.
The specially developed thermal imaging sensor uses long-wave infrared and features a very high resolution camera. “Behind the camera are image processing functions and their task is to detect the thermal signature of the incoming missile,” Stephen said. “We track that automatically and then send out generally two Seawolf missiles to counter it, and the system also tracks their thermal signatures and remotely controls the missile along the sight line to the target. There is no operator intervention at all.”
As well as dramatically increasing the capability of the ships to defend themselves, he said SWMLU would also make through-life maintenance for Seawolf much easier and more efficient. “For example, the main interface the maintainer has with the old equipment is through a teletype machine. We have replaced that with a very modern computer interface and we have replaced a lot of analogue circuitry with digital circuitry, which can be used by much more advanced testing equipment to diagnose which part of the system is at fault and has to be replaced. That means the benefits will be felt throughout the life of the system, simplifying training and maintenance.” Alongside its specially developed technology, SWMLU also makes as much use as possible of off-the-shelf technology, which lowers costs, helps with de-risking and allows for ongoing support from the equipment supplier.
As well as the just-completed installation on HMS Sutherland, SWMLU has also been installed at two UK MOD onshore installations. One of the systems is at HMS Collingwood, the Maritime Warfare School’s lead establishment, and the first ten-week maintainer training course for SWMLU was completed there in December, 2007. The second shore-based installation is at the Shore Integration Facility at Portsdown Hill, where rehearsals for harbour acceptance tests and overall ship system linking have also been completed. Stephen said this kind of onshore testing considerably de-risked first of class installations.
As well as the installation of SWMLU, HMS Sutherland is undergoing a major refit and will be ready for sea trials in the fourth quarter of this year. Seawolf demonstration firing trials are scheduled for the first quarter of 2009.
Stephen said that those trials will be the first time SWMLU has been fired. “We have complete confidence it will work because every bit of equipment, including the tracking system, the naval environment, and the flight of the Seawolf missile, has been simulated and proven in a mathematical model.”
He added that the modelling had also enabled them to design the system to counter threats that did not yet exist, but which may come in the future.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 97,500 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £15.7 billion (US$ $31.4 billion) in 2007.
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john.neilson@baesystems.com
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