MBDA Inc., Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $118,673,894 contract action for the production of the Common Anti-Air Module Missile (CAMM) for Multi-Mission Surface Combatants (MMSC) ships. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative not-to-exceed value of this contract to $145,552,474. Work is expected to be completed by January 2027. Foreign Military Sales funds for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the amount of $65,786,821 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
The CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) is a family of surface-to-air missiles developed by MBDA UK for the United Kingdom. CAMM shares some common features and components with the ASRAAM air-to-air missile, but with updated electronics and an active radar homing seeker. As Sea Ceptor, CAMM is replacing the Sea Wolf missile on Type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy since 2018. As Land Ceptor, it is the missile part of the Sky Sabre air defence system, which since 2021 has been replacing the Rapier missile in British Army service. The system is also contributing to the updating of MBDA’s ASRAAM in service with the Royal Air Force.
CAMM is a point defence and local area defence missile designed to respond to sophisticated missile and aircraft attacks. MBDA states that CAMM has a “high rate of fire against multiple simultaneous targets”, providing capabilities comparable to the Aster 15 missile. CAMM has a minimum operational range of less than 1 km and a maximum range greater than 25 km. These ranges are significantly greater than the 1–10 km range of Sea Wolf and other systems that CAMM will replace. CAMM weighs 99 kilograms (218 lb), is 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) in length, 166 millimetres (6.5 in) diameter and reaches generous supersonic speeds of Mach 3 (or 1,020 meters per second).
Lockheed Martin Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) is a derivative of the US Navy’s Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). It was selected for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces’ (RSNF) multi-mission surface combat ship requirement. The MMSC platform can be configured with a variety of sensors and weapons based on operational requirements of the naval customer. The ship can counter a range of current and future maritime threats in both open sea and littoral zones. Its mission capabilities include anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-air warfare (AAW), mine warfare, electronic warfare and special operations.
