UK ramps up LMM firing activities

The UK Royal Navy (RN) in early July conducted pilot surface-to-surface trials of the Thales UK Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) – designated ‘Martlet’ in RN service – from a frigate at an off-shore firing range in the Irish Sea.

The trials, in which a five-round LMM pannier was co-mounted with the MSI-Defence Systems 30 mm DS30M Mark 2 gun on board the Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland , comprised the launch of four Martlet rounds – one test round and three telemetry rounds – at a fast moving FIAC-representative speedboat off the MOD Aberporth Range on the west coast of Wales.

An LMM/Martlet five-canister pannier co-mounted with the MSI-Defence Systems 30 mm DS30M Mark 2 gun on board the RN Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland . (Thales)

“The current defence against fast inshore attack craft, the 30 mm gun, is highly effective for closer range engagements,” said Lieutenant Commander George Blakeman, HMS Sutherland ’s weapon engineer officer. “By adding the missile to the gun mount, it is anticipated it will extend the reach of the ship’s defensive systems – key to a successful defence against fast craft using swarm attack tactics.”

“The trial, for which we were contracted, was designed to prove to the Royal Navy that a shipborne LMM/Martlet system could track, acquire, and engage a FIAC-type target at sea; we have successfully done this,” a Thales UK spokesperson told Jane’s .

A Martlet missile being fired from a five-canister LMM/Martlet pannier co-mounted with the MSI-Defence Systems 30 mm DS30M Mark 2 gun on the RN Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland at a fast moving FIAC-representative speedboat off the MOD Aberporth Range. (Thales)