Bird in the hand: NATO gives fresh momentum to ESSM

In June 1968, four NATO navies (of Denmark, Italy, Norway and the United States) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a new shipborne air-defence missile system. These four Charter Members formed a consortium to manage and fund what became the Mk 57 NATO SeaSparrow Surface Missile System (NSSMS).

This collaboration sought to reduce total programme costs, while at the same time ensuring standardisation and interoperability between NATO members. Over time, the consortium grew as other nations came aboard: Belgium (1970), Canada (1982), Germany (1977), Greece (1982), the Netherlands (1970), Portugal (1988), Spain (1991) and Turkey (1982).

In 1990 Australia became the first non-NATO partner to be admitted into the NATO SeaSparrow club. Today, the number of participating countries stands at 12, Italy having withdrawn from the consortium in 2002.

Raytheon was awarded a system development contract for the NSSMS in September 1969, engineering a system based on the RIM-7H SeaSparrow missile, the Mk 29 lightweight octuple launcher and the Mk 91 fire-control system. A first production contract was awarded in August 1973 following a successful development programme.

Raytheon subsequently embarked on an intensive planning, co-ordination and implementation process in order to manage a multinational defence manufacture programme, the likes of which had never previously been attempted. This included establishing a European Program Office in Copenhagen to co-ordinate the procurement of hardware with participation from industry in accordance with the MoU's Balance of Payments provision.

By the time the last RIM-7 missile rolled off the Japanese-licensed production line in 2007, more than 12,000 missile rounds had been produced. Including sales to allies and overseas transfers, 18 navies continue to field the NATO SeaSparrow in various weapon system configurations.

The co-operative legacy of the NSSMS programme, regularly held up as NATO's single largest and most successful co-operative weapons project, has now been successfully pulled through to the RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) - an international co-operative development shared among 10 of the 12 members of the NATO SeaSparrow Consortium (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the US). Building on the guidance section of the RIM-7P NATO SeaSparrow, ESSM is a kinematically enhanced missile able to defeat a new generation of increasingly stressing air threats.

To date, more than 900 ESSM rounds have rolled off the Raytheon production line in Tucson, Arizona, and the RIM-162 is now in fleet service with nine consortium navies, with a tenth - Turkey - to follow in May 2010. Meanwhile, initial success has already been achieved in the wider international marketplace: a licence production arrangement is already in place with Japan and the United Arab Emirates has become the first Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customer for ESSM.

Looking further ahead, preparatory work for a significant ESSM block upgrade, addressing both improved seeker performance and extended range, is now essentially complete. Consortium members are expected to decide on a development plan towards the middle of 2009.

Image: The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis (CVN 74) performed an ESSM launch for the first time in October 2008 during combat system ships qualification trials off southern California. Stennis is the first carrier to successfully launch an ESSM (US Navy) 485 of 5,164 words