European Sovereignty Monitor

Defence and space

Royal Navy declares IOC for MBDA's Sea Venom anti-ship missile

The Royal Navy's Wildcat HMA2 helicopters reached Initial Operating Capability with MBDA's Sea Venom anti-ship missile during Operation Highmast, restoring a strike capability lost since Sea Skua retired in 2017.

Reported Editor-read Royal Navy news release, 2 October 2025

What it does not test. Does not establish fleet-wide fit across all Wildcat squadrons.

How this item counts. This item is dated before the index starts on 1 January 2026, so it does not count in the European Sovereignty Index.

How this item was made. Drafted by an AI system (Claude (Anthropic)) from the source cited above; read and approved by the editor on 2026-10-13. How the record is made

What the tags mean: VerifiedReportedAI-draftedAI-drafted, editor-readHuman-writtenWhat the tags mean

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