At the EURONAVALl 2024 exhibition, MBDA presented Sea Warden, a modular anti-drone system adapted to the naval environment that integrates a wide range of sensors and weapon systems. 

Sea Warden provides self-protection for ships against emerging, asymmetric threats, such as air and sea drones.

Building on its experience in Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UASs) through Sky Warden, Sea Warden is a modular system to counter all Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) threats, integrating and controlling a wide range of sensors and effectors as a response to the need for self-protection of merchant vessels and warships.

According to the company, Sea Warden can operate in all modern scenarios, from self-protection of ships at anchor or docked to fleet protection in open waters. By leveraging its modular design, Sea Warden is a comprehensive defence system ranging from detection to neutralization of UAVs and USVs up to class 2. 

Also read: MBDA | Sky Warden’s new C-UAS effector concept

Particularly, 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 efficiency. 

Sea Warden integrates, inter alia, effectors such as directed energy weapons – with the CILAS HELMA-P laser –, jammers, and systems including a Hit-to-Kill drone (in collaboration with NOVADEM), loitering munitions, MISTRAL 3, and AKERON MP missiles for the most demanding aerial and surface threats.

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. That is, it can be integrated into ships’ combat systems or operate as a standalone capability with a dedicated console. In general terms, it can be adapted effectively to any existing or future naval, maritime, or offshore platform to defeat any aerial or surface unmanned threat.

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

At this point, it should be noted that there is also a ground variant of the system at issue, Ground Warden, which we shall present the following days.

Also read: EUROSATORY 2022 | MBDA unveils the Sky Warden C-UAS with full sensors and weapons suite – VIDEO & Photos