The United States is providing the Australian defence industry the opportunity to contribute to the future development of the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) via the Next Significant Variant (NSV) program.
The NSV will be expected to work in complex contested environments with the ability to discriminate and resolve between multiple closely spaced targets and to provide threat track measurements to support guidance, navigation and lethality functions. It must also handle threat countermeasures and be able to fit into a Mk41 Vertical Launching System in a quad-pack canister, while also minimising weight but maximising performance.
The NATO Sea Sparrow Project Office (NSPO) has released a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) market-research activity, giving industry in multiple countries the opportunity to demonstrate capability and shape future engagement.
The NSPO is seeking information on mature and emerging technologies capable of supporting the design, development, production and sustainment of either a complete Guided Missile Assembly (GMA) or individual missile subsystems. Responses are sought from organisations with demonstrated capability across areas including propulsion, seekers, guidance and navigation systems, communications, software architecture, control systems, advanced manufacturing, systems engineering, modelling and simulation.
The missile and any associated technical data supplied in the response must be releasable to the entire NATO Sea Sparrow consortium, which consists of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, and the United States.
For Australian industry, the notice is relevant to businesses associated within the guided weapons, aerospace, software and autonomous systems sectors that are seeking export supply chain opportunities and collaborative international defence programs. Due by 19 October, responses received will inform future acquisition and prototype development pathways for the ESSM.
More information can be found at the sam.gov site by searching for ESSM NSV.