Active Royal Navy weapon systems

This is a list of Active Royal Navy weapon systems.

Harpoon
In British service the Harpoon is fitted to all Type 23 Frigates in a 2x4 canister configuration, the Boeing Harpoon is an anti-ship missile capable of striking at targets more than 80 miles away. The harpoon is also in use with many other NATO countries navies. The Type 45 destroyer was originally fitted for but not with the Harpoon missile, but in 2013 it was announced that the Harpoon would be fitted to four of the six Type 45 destroyers, utilising redundant equipment from the de-commissioned Type 22 frigates.

Sea Skua
The Sea Skua is a lightweight short-range air-to-surface missile designed for use from helicopters against ships. It is used by the Fleet Air Arm on the Westland Lynx

4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun|Mark 8 gun
The 4.5in main gun can be found on all the Royal Navy's frigates and destroyers and was used in the Falklands and Iraq. The gun can fire up to 24 high explosive shells weighing more than 40 kg at targets more than 12 miles away - this can be extended to nearly 18 miles if special extended-range shells are used.

There are two types of the gun used by the Royal Navy. The older Mod 0 (with a curved turret), which is being replaced, and the angular Mod 1 which is harder for enemy radar to pick up. The main purpose of the gun is Naval Gunfire Support – artillery bombardment of shore targets. In this role the gun is capable of firing the equivalent of a six-gun shore battery. It can still be used as an anti ship weapon

30mm DS30M Mark 2 Automated Small Calibre Gun
The 30mm DS30M Mark 2 is a 30 mm Automated Small Calibre Gun system was designed to defend ships from fast inshore attack craft armed with short-range weaponry. The DS30M Mark 2 system consists of a 30mm Mark 44 Bushmaster II on a fully automated mount with an off-mount electro-optical director (EOD).

Miniguns
All Royal Navy ships carry mini guns for close in defence

General Purpose Machine Gun - GPMG
GPMG are used for close in defence

Phalanx CIWS
The Phalanx CIWS is an anti-ship missile defence system. It is a close-in weapon system (CIWS). It was fitted to Type 42 and it is fitted to Type 45 destroyers and Bay, Wave and Fort Victoria-class ships in the RFA. During Operation Telic, Phalanx guns were removed from ships and were crewed by RN personal based at Basra airport, The future Type 26 frigate had been designed to carry two of the weapons in a Port/Starboard configuration.

Goalkeeper CIWS
Goalkeeper is fitted to the larger ships in the Royal Navy's fleet; HM Ships Illustrious, Albion and Bulwark. It can track up to 15 targets at the same time, then, depending on which ones are the most dangerous it can engage them at ranges up to 1,500 metres. It is assumed that the Goalkeeper will be replaced in its capacity aboard the Albion class by the Phalanx CIWS as Goalkeeper will be removed from service in 2015. HMS Illustrious will retire in 2014 meaning that only four of the Goalkeeper systems will be in service in the whole Royal Navy.

Spearfish torpedo
The Spearfish torpedo is the heavyweight torpedo for the Royal Navy submarines - it weighs nearly two tonnes. It can be used in either an anti submarines or anti ship role with a range of more than 30 miles. It is guided either by a copper wire or homes on to its target using its inbuilt sonar and has a 660 lb explosive charge that detonates either when it strikes the hull of an enemy submarine, or via an acoustic proximity fuse.

Sting Ray torpedo
The sting ray can be dropped by Lynx or Merlin helicopters and launched from a Type 23 frigate. The Sting Ray is a small lightweight torpedo designed to destroy submarines. With speeds of more than 50 mph at targets it can deliver a 100 lb explosive charge powerful enough to punch through the double hulls of modern submarines. On board the Type 23 Frigates it is deployed by two twin Torpedo launchers.

Seawolf
The Seawolf is an anti aircraft and anti missile weapon equipping the type 23 frigate fleet. In service for more than 3 decades it has bean used in battle in the Falklands. It is sometimes described as a Point Defence Missile System (PDMS) because, unlike Sea Viper and Sea Dart, Seawolf is intended to defend an individual ship rather than a fleet, engaging aircraft or sea-skimming missiles. It is fired from a silo on Type 23 frigates, and guided on to its target by a tracking system on the ship. The fleet is in the middle of receiving the latest version of the missile system. On board the Type 23 frigates the missile is launched from a 32 cell, vertical launch system.

Sea Viper system
Sea Viper is the main weapon of the Type 45 destroyers The missile provides all-round defence for an entire naval task group against all aerial threats at some 70 miles away. It races towards its target at speeds in excess of Mach Four (over 3,000 mph) using a series of tiny jets to manoeuvre, carrying out sharp turns

The system comprises the SAMPSON radar, a Combat Management System, long-range radar, the Sylver VLS on the destroyer's front and Aster 15 (20 miles) and Aster 30 missiles (75 miles) Sea Viper was formally known as PAAMS: Principal Anti-Air Missile System. On board the Type 45 destroyer the missiles are launched from a 48 cell vertical launching system.

Tomahawk missile
The Tomahawk missile allows the Navy’s submarines to strike at targets on land accurately. The missile has been in use with the RN since the late 1990s and has been used in the Kosovo conflict and in the campaigns against the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. It is fired from a boat's torpedo tubes. Once it reaches the surface, a booster rocket ignites to propel the missile skywards. Tomahawk then heads for its target at 550 mph, delivering a 1,000 lb explosive warhead.

The Tomahawk IV – also known as TLAM (Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile) is the latest version of the missile. It has a longer range than its predecessors and can be directed at a new target in-flight, and can also beam back images of the battlefield in British service it is fitted to all Trafalgar and Astute-class submarines.

Trident D5 ballistic missile
The Trident nuclear missile is Britain's nuclear deterrent. Carried only by the four Vanguard-class submarines, it is ejected from their silos by high-pressure gas before the rockets fire when the missile reaches the surface. At its fastest, the missile travels at over 13,000 miles an hour. Each Vanguard boat has 16 missile tubes, and each missile has the ability to deliver eight warheads every warhead is about eight times more powerful than the nuclear bomb used at Hiroshima in ww2