BAE Systems launches new Sea Tridon naval gun series

PARIS — BAE Systems debuted a new series of naval guns designed to tackle airborne, surface, and shore threats today at the Euronaval defense show in Paris. 

The family of guns is derived from the Bofors 40 Mk4 naval gun that first started development more than 15 years ago. Each of the three variants come with their own characteristics, all designed around trying to meet the needs of modern navies, according to the firm.

“The maritime threat landscape is evolving rapidly, creating a growing need for flexible and effective protection solutions,” Lena Gillström, president of BAE Systems Bofors, said in a news release Tuesday. “With the Sea Tridon, navies and maritime operators can select the capability level that best meets their operational needs while benefiting from a common platform, proven technology and advanced programmable ammunition.”

The three variants are:

• Sea Tridon, which combines the Bofors 40mm gun with an “integrated electro-optical fire-control system,” which the company says will make it easier to integrate onto new platforms.
• Sea TridonC, a containerized version of the Sea Tridon. Militaries around the world have been experimenting with containerized systems, which can be swiftly deployed and, if needed, abandoned after use.
• Sea Trinity, which the company claims is the “most advanced” of the family. It comes with the Bofars 40mm gun and integrated fire control radar, and is specifically to be used to counter the kind of small missiles and drones that have come to represent major threats to ships in the Black Sea and the Gulf.

Speaking to reporters at the show, Stefan Lofstrom, director of marketing and sales for BAE Systems Bofors, emphasized that the new systems will use the company’s already in production ammunition.

“Ammunition-wise, all those variants are compatible with our programmable 3P ammunition,” Lofstrom told reporters at Euronaval. “That’s been around on the market for a long time. It’s well proven again. That’s really the unique selling point with these systems: the 3P ammunition.”

Lofstrom said that conversations are also underway with “several navies” right now about the integration of the Sea Tridon guns on unmanned systems that would go out to sea without human support for weeks at a time, in order to work out how certain aspects, like gun maintenance and ammunition reloading, could be handled without crew aboard.

Customers for BAE’s Mk4 naval gun already include the Royal Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy, who have purchased the weapon for some of their frigates. Additionally, others including the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Belgian Navy have selected the naval gun for their mine countermeasure vessels. 

“The starting point for this family of new products is the existing customer base, but then we in parallel have ongoing customer conversations with I would say a handful or two handfuls of customers,” Lofstrom said. “We don’t have a launch customer for this yet, but we have some advanced discussions with different customers.”