Navy asks Lockheed Martin to integrate and upgrade Aegis shipboard weapons-control systems
WASHINGTON, 2 Aug. 2016.Shipboard electronics experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. will integrate and test centralized automated command-and-control (C2) and weapons-control systems for U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers under terms of a $9.7 million contract modification announced last week.
Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking the Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training segment in Moorestown, N.J., for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS baselines through advanced capability build (ACB) 12.
The job involves Aegis Weapon System ship integration and test for five new Burke-class destroyers and the major modernization of five existing Burke-class ships. It also will upgrade all current Burke-class ships.
The Aegis Weapon System is a centralized, automated, command-and-control and weapons-control system for Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
The heart of the system is the AN/SPY-1 advanced automatic-detect and -track multi-function phased-array radar that handles search, track, and missile guidance simultaneously, with a track capacity of more than 100 targets.
Related: Navy looks to ATCA embedded computing architecture for Aegis upgrades
Aegis, also the name for the shield of the Greek god Zeus, has been aboard Navy surface warships since the 1980s. This contract modification is part of a $60. million contract the Navy awarded to Lockheed Martin two years ago for Aegis weapon system integration and test.
A computer-based command and decision interface is the core of the Aegis combat system, which enables the system to operate simultaneously against hostile aircraft and missiles, surface ships, and submarines.
On this contract modification Lockheed Martin will do the work in Bath, Maine; Camden and Moorestown, N.J.; San Diego; Norfolk, Va.; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Washington; Everett, Wash.; and Yokosuka, Japan, and should be finished by April 2018.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mst, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
