While Ukraine uses RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles on modified Buk-M1 FrankenSAM air defense systems, the U.S. and its allies are installing the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) on newer ships. Apparently, the US and its partners do not plan to stop there and will continue to develop this weapon.
In particular, as DefenseNews reports, the U.S. Navy is leading a multinational effort to develop a new version of the Evolved SeaSparrow air defense missile. U.S. Navy has placed its Sources Sought notice "to to assess opportunities to develop and produce a Guided Missile Assembly" of the New Significant Version of the ESSM missile. The project should be "releasable to all NATO SeaSparrow consortium navies."
Read more: Ukraine’s Buk SAM Will Receive RIM-7 Sea Sparrow Missiles, Which Solves the Missile Shortage Problem
The new surface-to-air missile should have capability against current and future threat classes spanning a variety of threat characteristic. These include such parameters of targets as, for example, velocity (low-speed to high-speed), altitude (sea skimming to high diver), maneuverability (non-maneuvering to high Gravitational (G)-Force maneuvers) and signature (it is not specified whether only radar, - ed.).
The missile should be able to work in complex natural, contested, Radio Frequency (RF), Electro-Optical (EO), and/or Infrared (IR) environments. It also should have the capability to discriminate and resolve between multiple closely spaced targets and to provide threat track measurements to support missile guidance, navigation, and lethality functions as well as should have the capability to handle threat countermeasures.
In general, the details of the future missile should be disclosed to the participants of the NATO SeaSparrow consortium, which, in addition to the United States, includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye.
The diameter of the missile, as for the ESSM, should be 10 inches, or 25.4 cm, to fit into the Mk41 vertical launcher, or an analogue with the ability to place 4 missiles in one cell. Proposals for development can be submitted until October 19 of this year.
Defense Express notes that from the available conditions and images, it can be assumed that the new missile will retain radio command guidance with semi-active and active seeker, as such capabilities are present in the latest version of ESSM - Block 2. However, such details are not specified in the published official document.
Recall that the RIM-162 ESSM has a mass of 280 kg with a length of 3.66 m and a warhead weighing 39 kg. It is in service with a number of countries around the world, the declared range of hitting targets is over 50 km, and the maximum speed exceeds Mach 4. In addition to the Mk41 launcher, it can be launched from vertical launchers Mk48, Mk57, Mk56, as well as from the Mk29 box launcher.
The predecessor of the ESSM is the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile, which is still in use worldwide. The number of users of this missile also includes Ukraine, where this missile is used on Soviet Buk-M1 SAM systems that were modernized together with the Americans in a framework of the FrankenSAM program and are already used to protect Ukrainian skies since 2024.
Defense Express reported earlier on how FrankenSAM revived Soviet SAMs, became a nightmare for Shaheds.
Read more: Ukrainian Forces Show the FrankenSAM Project System for the First Time (Photos)
