MBDA is adapting to the challenges of the evolving aerial and surface drone threats in the naval domain. At Euronaval 2024, MBDA is presenting Sea Warden, a naval-based defence system against un-crewed aerial and surface threats, ready to market. Building on our experience in counter un-crewed aerial systems (C-UAS) through Sky Warden, Sea Warden is a modular system to counter all un-crewed aerial vehicle (UAV) and un-crewed submersible vehicle (USV) threats, integrating and controlling a wide range of sensors and effectors. Sea Warden is the response to the need for self-protection of merchant vessels and warships, now and in the future.

Protecting sovereign interests

The maritime domain is a significant component of the global economy. For the countries seeking to protect their sovereign interests, naval forces have to respond appropriately to multiple areas of action. From the lower end of the spectrum – with asymmetric threats like drones – to higher-end anti-ship systems. Therefore, emerging threats at sea come in new and ever-changing forms. Faced with this reality, Navies must deploy a range of resources to protect their assets, sometimes in combination. To stay agile, MBDA has developed a scalable system designed to evolve at the same rapid speed as the drone threat to meet the changing demands of our customers and ensure battle readiness.

Working with partners

Sea Warden can operate in all modern scenarios, from self-protection of ships at anchor or docked to maritime consort protection in open oceans. By leveraging its modular design, Sea Warden is the only comprehensive defence system ranging from detection to neutralization of UAVs and USVs up to class 2. MBDA is working with its partners to integrate capabilities to deliver the appropriate military effect. The system is designed to identify and classify threats with a complete set of sensors (radar, passive RF, electro-optical cameras, etc.) and assign the most appropriate and available effector, maximizing the efficiency. Sea Warden integrates, for example, effectors such as directed energy weapon – with the CILAS HELMA-P laser –, hunter drones, jammers, and MBDA systems including a Hit-to-Kill drone – in collaboration with NOVADEM –, loitering munitions and the MISTRAL 3 and AKERON MP missiles for the most demanding aerial and surface threats.

Meeting customer requirements

To cope with evolving missions, Sea Warden has been designed with an open architecture that enables it to be configured to meet specific customer requirements. It can be integrated into ships’ combat systems, or operate as a standalone capability with a dedicated console. It can be adapted effectively to any existing or future naval, maritime, or offshore platform to defeat any aerial or surface un-crewed threat.

Today, Sea Warden is the only battle-ready system to manage the full counter-UAV (C-UAV) counter-USV (C-USV) kill chain. MBDA has demonstrated the capability of its Sky Warden system in a recent successful operational demonstration.

Excellence at your side

With Sea Warden, Navies can rely on MBDA’s expertise to cover a multi-layered air defence systems portfolio. MBDA is the sole European player that’s provide a full range of the most advanced naval-based air defence systems, from C-UAV/C-USV systems to systems that defend against the most high-end threats.