European defense companies are racing to shrink air defense down to the size of a backpack rocket, betting that tiny guided interceptors can finally make shooting down cheap drones affordable. At the center of that push, Babcock and Estonian startup Frankenburg Technologies are preparing a new launcher for what they describe as the world’s smallest anti-drone missile, tailored for ships that increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs of low-cost aerial threats. Their project signals how quickly the counter-drone market is shifting from exquisite, billion‑euro systems to agile, almost disposable munitions.
A baguette-sized interceptor and a container on deck
The partnership hinges on Frankenburg Technologies’ Mark 1 interceptor, a guided missile that company figures, including Salm, have promoted as the smallest of its kind and roughly the length of a baguette. A prototype of this Mark 1 missile, carrying a UK flag on its body, has already been built as part of early research and development work that Jan and the team at Frankenburg Technologies have used to validate the basic design and guidance approach, according to reporting by Rudy Ruitenberg. Salm has said that Frankenburg’s Mark 1 missile is the world’s smallest guided missile, and the company has already been selected by Estonia as a supplier, with ambitions to scale production to as many as 10,000 units a year to meet both national and export demand, a goal detailed in coverage of Salm and Frankenburg.
On the launch side, Babcock is developing a containerised system that can be craned onto a ship’s deck like standard cargo, turning a logistics unit into a plug‑and‑play air defense battery. Company material stresses that this container is not just packaging but a way to simplify deployment, maintenance and resupply, allowing navies to bolt on counter‑drone protection without deep structural refits, a concept highlighted in analysis of Babcock’s containerised launcher. The containerised launcher is being framed as a response to the cost imbalance that has seen warships use missiles costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to destroy drones that might be assembled from hobbyist parts, a gap that Frankenburg’s Mark 1 interceptor, at around 60 cm in length and designed to be far cheaper per shot than traditional naval missiles that can reach £400,000 per round, is explicitly intended to close, as set out in technical commentary on Frankenburg’s Mark 1 interceptor.
From Ukrainian battlefields to maritime testbeds
The Mark 1 concept did not emerge in a vacuum, it grew out of battlefield lessons from Ukraine, where small, low‑flying drones have shredded armored columns and logistics hubs. An Estonian tech startup, identified in reporting from MILAN as An Estonian company behind a miniature anti‑drone missile, has already arranged for its mini missile to be tested in Ukraine, using the conflict as a proving ground for how such weapons perform against real swarms and improvised enemy tactics, according to coverage of An Estonian anti-drone mini missile. That same Estonian innovation ecosystem underpins Frankenburg, which is positioning its Mark 1 as a way to translate those land‑war insights into a naval setting, where ships must now contend with one‑way attack drones and quadcopters launched from shorelines or small boats.
For Babcock and Frankenburg Partner companies, the maritime environment offers both urgency and opportunity, since navies are searching for layered defenses that can handle everything from cruise missiles to cheap quadcopters without bankrupting their munitions budgets. Their Counter Drone Maritime Defense System is being pitched as a low‑cost layer in that stack, one that can be bolted onto existing hulls and integrated with ship sensors to respond quickly to small targets, a role described in detail in reports on the Counter Drone Maritime Defense System. The interceptor itself was developed in just 13 months and built entirely from commercially available components, giving it an engagement range tailored to short‑range drone threats and a cost profile that is meant to be sustainable in prolonged conflicts, as highlighted in technical notes that say it was developed in 13 months.
Further details about the system and its interceptors have not been fully disclosed, with both companies keeping performance figures and seeker specifics close to the vest while development work continues in test facilities and at sea, a level of secrecy that is noted in coverage stating that further details about the system remain limited. What is clear is that the project fits into a wider British and allied push to find cheaper ways of knocking drones out of the sky, a push that also includes directed‑energy research, with Nov era commentary pointing out that the British are investing heavily in lasers because traditional air defense missiles are too expensive to waste on every small target, a point underscored in a discussion of how a tiny baguette‑sized rocket could complement those efforts in a British laser weapons video. In that context, Babcock and Frankenburg’s launcher for what they call the world’s smallest anti‑drone missile looks less like a novelty and more like a necessary adaptation to a drone battlefield that is getting cheaper, faster and closer to the waterline.
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