SEA's Ancilia trainable launcher system, which will form part of the C-Guard MK II soft-kill system, was developed in partnership with Terma. (SEA)
Danish systems and sensors house Terma and UK defence systems group SEA have co-operated to develop a new variant of Terma's widely sold C-Guard 130 mm soft-kill countermeasures unit, the companies announced on 4 November.
Known as C-Guard MKII, the new system introduces SEA's Ancilia trainable decoy launch system together with improved tactical algorithms that exploit the additional flexibility afforded by a trainable launcher. The partnership on C-Guard MKII was formally announced on 4 November at the Euronaval 2024 exhibition.
“Using SEA's trainable decoy launcher system … and the technology from Terma's C-Guard MK II rapid response and constant threat evaluation capability, the combined countermeasures solution will provide an intelligent end-to-end solution ensuring enhanced fleet protection against multiple missiles and torpedoes for navies around the world,” the companies said in a statement.
Terma has to date sold over 150 C-Guard (previously known as Soft Kill Weapon System [SKWS]) units to navies worldwide. Typically integrated into the ship's combat management system, which provides the threat picture, the original system combines a below-deck control unit (running threat evaluation/engagement algorithms), a launch interface unit, and multiple fixed-barrel 130 mm launchers on deck.
However, while fixed launchers are simple, robust, and reliable, they suffer from inherent constraints in that they require the host ship to perform co-ordinated manoeuvres as part of a soft-kill ploy, and are inherently limited in their accuracy of decoy placement. Furthermore, they require careful selection of the launch ‘barrel of choice', and cannot fully exploit the performance characteristics of more advanced multipart decoy rounds.
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