The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded MBDA a £118 million contract to deliver six Land Ceptor air defence launchers. According to the ministry, the deal supports up to 140 jobs across the country and aligns with its Plan for Change, which seeks to enhance national security while boosting the domestic defence industry.
The decision comes amid rising security challenges, particularly the growing use of drones and cruise missiles in modern conflicts and heightened tensions in Europe linked to Russian military activity. The Land Ceptor, part of the Sky Sabre system, provides medium-range ground-based air defence and is designed to counter threats from fast jets, drones, and cruise missiles.
The system uses MBDA’s CAMM missile, with a 28 km range, and the extended CAMM-ER variant, capable of striking targets up to 45 km away. Each missile carries a 10 kg fragmentation warhead activated by a laser proximity fuze and is guided by an active radar seeker. Sky Sabre integrates Saab’s Giraffe Agile Multi Beam 3D radar, offering a 120 km detection range, and Rafael’s SAMOC command-and-control centre. Notably, it can guide up to 24 missiles simultaneously and has proven capable of intercepting a tennis-ball-sized target travelling at twice the speed of sound.
