By John Knowles
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) said on Nov. 13 that the Royal Navy’s Maritime Electronic Warfare Integrated Capability (MEWSIC) program successfully passed its critical design review, which allows it to move into manufacture, testing and acceptance phases. MEWSIC Increment 1, which is being developed by Babcock International (acting as the platform integrator) and its subcontractor Elbit UK (supplying the EW system) is part of the RN’s larger Maritime EW Programme (MEWP). Under MEWP, the RN wants to upgrade the EW across several ship classes, including the new Type 26 and Type 31 frigates, as well as retrofits into the Type 45 destroyer and Queen Elizabeth-Class aircraft carriers..
Another aspect of the MEWP is the Electronic Warfare Countermeasures (EWCM) Project, which aims to provide a new decoy launcher (Increment 1a) and new RF decoys (Increment 2a). That competition is ongoing.
While the MEWSIC and EWCM projects focus on ship self-protection, a future phase of the MEWP will look at EW command and control for fleet protection.
For more background on MEWP, MEWSIC and EWCM, see “Sense and Survive: MEWP Recapitalization Sets a New Course for Royal Navy EW Capability,” p. 42, JED, September 2022).
