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PAAMS Fact Sheet

PAAMS - Principal Anti-Air Missile System

French Navy First of Class, Forbin

The Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) will equip the new Type 45 Destroyer in its prime role of Anti-Air Warfare (AAW): protecting UK national and allied/coalition forces against enemy aircraft and missiles.

The PAAMS air defence missiles are the size of a public phone box, weigh two thirds as much as a small car and from launch accelerate to a speed twice that of Concorde in under 10 seconds. The missiles' flight manoeuvres as it locks onto a target are so severe they are 10 times more severe than a human could withstand. The system is designed to deal with multiple attacks by anti-ship missiles.

PAAMS is a 360 degree omni-directional system providing multi-layer air defence to armed fleets or groups of unarmed support and merchant ships. It includes three separate missions in a single naval air-defence system:

1. Ship self defence for protection of the PAAMS warship 
2. Naval area defence for protection of nearby ships 
3. Fleet protection at medium and long range 

PAAMS defeats all forms of threat from sea skimming anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, diving anti-radar missiles and fighter aircraft, to saturating and omni-directional attacks in an electronic warfare environment.

The system comprises: 

• A long-range surveillance radar 
• A fire control system based on a multifunction electronic scanning radar 
• Dual-missile vertical launchers, each containing eight ready-to-fire missiles 
• ASTER 15 and 30 missiles