ESSM

Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile

The Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ESSM is designed to counter supersonic manouvering anti-ship missiles. Compared to the Sea Sparrow, ESSM has a larger, more powerful engine for increased range and agility, as well as upgraded aerodynamics using strakes and skid-to-turn. In addition, ESSM takes advantage of the latest missile guidance technology, with different versions for Aegis/SPY-1, Sewaco/APAR, and traditional target illumination all-the-way.

ESSM will be used by many allied countries. The first country to achieve operational status for ESSM was Australia. Other countries in the process of integrating ESSM are Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey.

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