The Sea Venom anti-surface missile has successfully completed its first guided live firing from a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter at the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) Aberporth range in Wales.
It marks a significant milestone in the integration of Sea Venom onto Wildcat to provide the helicopter with an offensive capability against targets up to corvette size, supporting the UK Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group deployment in 2025 and beyond.
Sea Venom is a major technological advance, providing precise effects against a wide range of threats, even in complex environments. A high speed, two-way data-link communicates the images ‘seen’ by the missile’s infrared seeker to the operator who, in addition to initiating an autonomous engagement, can also remain in control of the missile throughout the full duration of its flight.
This optional, operator-in-the-loop, monitor-and-control facility, enables new capabilities such as inflight re-targeting, final aim point correction and refinement or safe abort.
The live fire trial has been a collaborative effort by the UK MOD and Industry teams around the UK and consisted of a single firing against a single target.
“We’re pleased that the completion of these key Wildcat integration trials will mean the Royal Navy will now be able to field the full capability of this potent maritime weapon system, providing a critical maritime strike capability for Carrier Strike Group 25 and beyond.”
- Mike Mew, MBDA Tactical Strike Director
“This first guided firing is a significant step forward for the integration of Sea Venom onto the Royal Navy’s Wildcat helicopters. The success of the trial was the result of an outstanding team effort across Leonardo Helicopters, MBDA, QinetiQ and the Ministry of Defence.”
- Pete Fawcett, Senior Responsible Owner for UK MOD
The Royal Navy introduced Wildcat helicopters into service in 2015. Along with Martlet, Sea Venom ensures the Wildcat helicopter can provide a formidable capability against a range of targets at sea and in the littoral environment.
The missile also has a coastal suppression capability against land targets. Unlike legacy semi-active radar guided missiles, Sea Venom uses an imaging infrared seeker that offers ‘fire-and-forget’ capabilities in even the most complex littoral environments.
The missile has a 30 kg-class warhead and a range of around 20 km. It offers a variety of different flight profiles – including sea skimming – and can be salvo fired.

“It was fantastic to see a full end-to-end demonstration of the missile.
“Every aspect of the firing worked well – from the ease-of-use in-cockpit for crews, through the performance of the missile in flight, right up to the accuracy on the target.
“The Wildcat has another potent addition to its arsenal, increasing the ability of front-line crews to fight from a greater stand-off distance; this maximizes their lethality whilst keeping them safe from enemy defences.”
- Lieutenant Commander Robin Kenchington, from the Royal Navy’s test and evaluation squadron 744 Naval Air Squadron
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