UK's Type 45 PAAMS claims first kill

摘要

The UK variant of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) for the Royal Navy's new Type 45 destroyers has scored its first intercept off the south coast of France. The 4 June test, conducted from the trials platform Longbow at the Centre d'Essais de Lancement des Missiles test range, saw a single Aster 30 missile strike a Mirach target (simulating an aircraft) at an altitude of 10,000 m. The missile achieved a direct hit at a range of 35 km. MBDA (UK), through its UKAMS subsidiary, is responsible for the development, integration, test and qualification of the PAAMS(S) variant specific to the Type 45 programme. While sharing many components with the PAAMS(E) adopted by France and Italy for the Horizon frigate programme, including Aster 15 and Aster 30 active-homing missiles and the SYLVER A50 vertical launch system, PAAMS(S) uniquely employs BAE Systems' Type 1045 Sampson active-array multifunction radar (in place of the Selex Sistemi Integrati EMPAR radar) together with a UK-developed command-and-control (C2) system.