The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd (SEA) a £135 million contract to provide a ‘Trainable Decoy Launcher’ that will improve the defensive capabilities of Royal Navy surface ships.

A step-change in ‘decoy launcher technology from traditional fixed solutions’, the ‘trainable nature’ of SEA’s Ancilia removes the need to manoeuvre the vessel to counter incoming threats. Moreover, its relatively small size and weight enables rapid installation on a wide range of ‘maritime platforms’; it can also be configured to fire ‘multiple decoy types in varying positions’.

A proven supplier of torpedo launcher and countermeasures capabilities to the Royal Navy, SEA partnered with fellow cohort company, Chess Dynamics Ltd, to develop Ancilia and ‘offer the best available engineering solution from within the UK supply chain’. Ancilia is a ‘low-risk solution that will be delivered by a proven team from established UK facilities’ and has been designed, in-part, based on existing systems in service with the Royal Navy, to minimise integration complexity. Alongside systems and software integration work, SEA and Chess Dynamics will manufacture and export Ancilia from facilities in North Devon (SEA) and Sussex (Chess), thereby creating and safeguarding over 150 skilled jobs.

Richard Flitton, SEA’s managing director, said: “Being awarded a contract of this nature demonstrates the Royal Navy’s trust in SEA, a trust that is based on our proven track record of delivering, upgrading, and sustaining high-end maritime capabilities over many years. The knowledge and maritime domain expertise within our UK-based team has enabled our long-standing partnership with the Royal Navy, and we are delighted that this will allow us to support the UK’s defensive capabilities against modern and complex naval threats.”

SEA has three facilities in the South West (Barnstaple, Frome, and Bristol) and one in Canada (Quebec).