MBDA announced on 4th July that its Sea Venom/ANL anti-ship missile successfully completed its first firing at the Île du Levant test range in France in June.

The Anglo-French missile is being developed to deliver an enhanced capability and replace existing and legacy systems such as the UK-developed Sea Skua and the French-developed AS15TT anti-ship missiles.

The trial of the 100 kg-class missile was conducted from a Dauphin test bed helicopter owned by the French defence procurement agency DGA.

Jointly ordered in 2014, the Sea Venom/ANL project has been developed 50/50 between the UK and France and has played a key part in the creation of shared centres of excellence on missile technologies in both countries.

Paul Goodwin, deputy head of the Sea Venom project, said that the system was pushed to the very edge of its range capability, adding that upcoming tests would exercise the systems’ operator-in-the-loop capabilities.

In UK service, the missile is planned to be used from the AW159 Wildcat helicopter, while France will operate the missile from its new Hélicoptère Interarmées Léger (HIL). The missile has been designed for use from the widest range of platforms, with air carriage trials having been conducted to demonstrate compatibility of the missile on legacy Lynx helicopters.