Serious Dollars for AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense Modifications (BMD)

AEGIS-BMD: CG-70
launches SM-3
(click to view full)

Work to help scope the future BMD v5.1/SM-3 IIA combination. (Aug 23/11)

The AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System seamlessly integrates the SPY-1 radar, the MK 41 Vertical Launching System for missiles, the SM-3 Standard missile, and the ship’s command and control system, in order to give ships the ability to defend against enemy ballistic missiles. Like its less-capable AEGIS counterpart, AEGIS BMD can also work with other radars on land and sea via Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), receiving cues from other platforms and providing information to them, in order to create a more detailed battle picture than any one radar could produce alone.

AEGIS has become a widely-deployed top-tier air defense system, with customers in the USA, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Spain. In a dawning age of rogue states and the spread of mass-destruction weapons, the US Navy is being pushed toward a “shield of the nation” role as the USA’s most flexible and and most numerous option for missile defense. AEGIS BMD modifications are the keystone of that effort – in the USA, and beyond…

• What Is AEGIS?
• AEGIS Missile Defense Capabilities
• AEGIS BMDS: The Program, 1995 – Present
• Contracts & Updates, FY 2007 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings

What Is AEGIS?

AEGIS Combat Control
(click to view full)

AEGIS, named after the legendary shield of Zeus, is deployed on 81 serving naval ships around the globe, with more than 25 additional AEGIS-equipped ships planned or under contract. It is the primary weapons control system on board American Ticonderoga Class Cruisers (CG-47) and Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers (DDG-51), as well as Japan’s Kongo Class destroyers, Korea’s KDX-III Class destroyers, Norway’s Fridtjof Nansen Class frigates, Spain’s F-100 Alvaro de Bazan Class frigates, and soon on Australia’s Hobart Class F100 derivatives as well.

The heart of these ships’ defensive suites is the AN/SPY-1 Radar System, a three-dimensional, air/surface search and tracking radar. This high-powered phased array radar is able to perform search, track and missile guidance functions simultaneously, with the ability to track over 100 targets at over 100 miles. Terminal guidance depends on mounted illuminators, since current SM-2 and SM-3 missile are only semi-active radar homing.

Partial AN/SPY-1

The other key to AEGIS is the AEGIS combat system software, which takes in put from a number of systems in order to create a unified picture of the threat environment. AEGIS equipped ships are key elements in modern carrier and battleship battle groups, providing fleet area defense and communicating an integrated air picture for more effective deployment of naval aircraft.

Some AEGIS suites can be converted to missile defense, with the addition of the required hardware and a set of software updates. The AN/SPY-1A radar on some Ticonderoga class cruisers is reportedly ineligible, and the much smaller AN/SPY-1F has not received a BMD upgrade design and may or may not be capable. The AN/SPY-1B variants that equip Ticonderoga class cruisers CG 59-73, and the AN/SPY-1D variant that equips DDG-51 destroyers and foreign AEGIS ships in Japan, South Korea, and Spain, can be upgraded with additional equipment and software, in order to support missile defense.

AEGIS was designed from the outset to operate with the Standard missile family, and both systems reach their maximum potential when deployed together. The current mainstay for air defense is the SM-2 Block IIIB. For missile defense, the longer-range SM-3 is the system’s main option, and is capable of kills 200 miles away as the ballistic missile prepares to re-enter the atmosphere. A new variant of the SM-2 Block IV is being revived and fielded as the Near Term Sea-Based Terminal weapon (NT-SBT), for last-phase intercepts as the warhead descends toward its target.

AEGIS can operate with other systems, however – the shorter-range RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is also a very popular partner.

AEGIS Missile Defense Capabilities

SM-3 Launch -
note rocket booster

During at-sea tests, the Aegis BMD Weapon System has been successful in 19/23 interception attempts. AEGIS BMD went to sea with its initial operating capability in October 2004. AEGIS Long Range Surveillance & Tracking (LRS&T) version 3.0 cannot engage ballistic missiles, but reportedly extends the ship’s radar tracking range to 500 km/ 300 miles, allowing them to support engagements by other ships. Over time, this version is being phased out, as AEGIS BMD ship systems are upgraded.

AEGIS BMD 3.6 supports full engagement, and was certified for tactical deployment by the U.S. Navy and the USA’s Missile Defense Agency in September 2006. The current certified version as of June 2009 is AEGIS BMD 3.6.1. It retains long range tracking, can engage enemy missiles using SM-3 missiles, and adds the capability to target short-range ballistic missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere in their final stage of flight. This allows them to make full use of SM-2 Block IV variants like NT-SBT.

Contracts currently underway will advance that system to AEGIS BMD 4.0.1. Capability improvements planned in the next phase of AEGIS BMD include equipment and computer program development and incorporation of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Signal Processor (Aegis BSP) into the AN/SPY-1 radar, which helps the system detect, track and classify objects more effectively to defeat more complex ballistic missile threats like decoys and multiple warheads. The Aegis BSP, which will be installed on all AEGIS BMD ships beginning in 2010, is an open architecture design. Lockheed Martin also adds support for the improved SM-3 Block 1B long range missiles under development in conjunction with Japan, and an adjunct computing suite that will continue AEGIS BMD’s migration to open architecture. BMD capability will be included in modernized, open architecture combat systems in AEGIS cruisers and destroyers starting in 2012.

Even US Navy AEGIS ships that are not scheduled to be fitted for ballistic missile defense will be changing over to a full open architecture (MOSA/ MOSA) system as part of ongoing upgrades to the DDG-51 and CG-47 ships. The move allows for purchase of commercial components from a much wider variety of suppliers, cost savings, and easier upgrades within a standards-based architecture. There are proposals to upgrade all American AEGIS ships with AN/SPY1B/D radars to have AEGIS BMD capability, so the move to OSA/MOSA could prove significant.

SM-3 evolution
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The next big step forward for AEGIS BMD will be a new missile, coupled with the AEGIS BMD 5.0+ software. The SM-3 Block II will use a different design that’s 21” in diameter, instead of 13.5” like the Block Is. That will allow for more powerful rocket motors, and considerable increases in range. The SM-3 Block I is mostly designed for use against short and medium-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs/MRBMs), and lacks the range to defend countries like Poland or The Czech Republic from the sea.

The Block II’s range will put most of the Czech Republic and Poland within range of inshore ships, and could allow just 2 ships to offer full coverage of Japan. Its improved range and speed will add effectiveness against Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) that have ranges measures in thousands of miles, as well as some effectiveness against full Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

AEGIS BMDS: The Program

CEC Concept
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Tracking program spending on ship modifications is difficult to do in isolation, as Pentagon budget documents tend to treat “AEGIS BMDS” as a single category, which includes both ship upgrades and SM-3 missiles. The floating “SBX” radar deployed in the Pacific is also used in naval ballistic missile defense, but it is not an AEGIS system and so does not come under AEGIS BMD budgets.

Based on Pentagon documents and outside sources, funding patterns include R&D, ship conversions, and SM-3 missile purchases. Totals over the years are:

FY 1995: $75 million.
FY 1996: $200.4 million.
FY 1997: $304.2 million.
FY 1998: $410 million.
FY 1999: 338.4 million.
FY 2000: $380 million.
FY 2001: $462 million.
FY 2002: $476 million.
FY 2003: $464 million.
FY 2004: $726.2 million.
FY 2005: $1.16 billion.
FY 2006: $898 million.
FY 2007: $1.123 billion. Adds 7 SM-3 missiles to the national interceptor inventory.
FY 2008: $1.241 billion, all listed under RDT&E.
FY 2009: $1.17 billion ($1,113.7M RDT&E, $56.8M procurement)
FY 2010: $1,661.3 million ($225.6M procurement, $1,435.7M RDT&E, incl. 6 ship conversions)

• FY 2011 request: $1,561.4 million ($94.1M procurement to buy 8 initial production SM-3 IBs; $1,467.3M RDT&E incl. 3 more ships, 30 SM-3 IBs for testing)

• FY 2012 request: $1,525.7 million ($565.4M procurement to buy 46 production SM-3 IBs; $960.3M RDT&E fits 5 more ships, completes SM-3 IB & Aegis BMD 4.0.1 development, completes 30 SM-3 IBs from 2011, continues Aegis BMD 5.0/5.1 work)

Those budgets are starting to have an effect on the fleet, as it morphs toward its new “shield of the nation” role. In March 2007, just 6 American warships had the ability to engage ballistic missiles, while another 10 were equipped with AEGIS Long Range Surveillance & Tracking version 3.0. By July 2009, the number of fully BMD-capable ships had grown to 18, with 42 SM-3 missiles and 47 SM-2 Block IV variants available for use:

• Norfolk NB, VA, hosted 2 ships: the DDG-51 destroyers USS Ramage [DDG 61] and USS Stout [DDG 55]. These are the only BMD-capable ships in the Atlantic fleet. This total will rise to 8 as the Navy adds the USS Ross [DDG 71] and USS Donald Cook [DDG 75] in FY 2012, and the USS Cole [DDG 67], USS McFaul [DDG 74] and USS Porter [DDG 78] in FY 2013.

• Mayport NB, FLA, hosted 0 AEGIS BMD ships, and was scheduled to add the USS Carney [DDG 64] in FY 2012. By February 2011, however, Mayport had a BMD-capable ship.

• San Diego NB, CA hosted 5 ships: the DDG-51 destroyers USS Decateur [DDG 73], USS Benfold [DDG 65], USS Milius [DDG 69], USS Higgins [DDG 76], and USS John Paul Jones [DDG 53].

• Pearl Harbor NB, HI hosted 6 ships: the CG-47 cruisers USS Port Royal [CG 73 – damaged in a 2009 grounding] and USS Lake Erie [CG 70]; and the DDG-51 Destroyers USS Russell [DDG 59], USS O’Kane [DDG 77], USS Paul Hamilton [DDG 60], and USS Hopper [DDG 70].

• Yokohama, Japan hosted 5 ships: the CG-47 cruiser USS Shiloh [CG 67], and the DDG-51 destroyers USS Stethem [DDG 63], USS Curtis Wilbur [DDG 54], USS John S. McCain [DDG 56 – named for the senator’s father], and USS Fitzgerald [DDG 62]. Japan also has its own fleet of 4 Kongo Class AEGIS BMD destroyers.

Note that all destroyers below DDG 61 are Arleigh Burke Flight I ships, and those below DDG 78 are Flight II. The most current Flight IIA standard for ships extends from DDG 79 – DDG 113.

In 2009, the cruiser USS Lake Erie began advanced testing with AEGIS BMD 4.0.1 to support a 2011 certification timeline, while the other U.S. Navy Aegis BMD-capable ships continue to use AEGIS BMD 3.6.1.

By 2010, 21 American ships had been fitted with the full AEGIS BMD 3.6.1 system or better: 17 Arleigh Burke Class AEGIS destroyers, and 4 Ticonderoga Class AEGIS cruisers.

Contracts for further AEGIS BMD 4.0.1 kits began in 2011. By February 2011, the US Navy still had 16 BMD-capable ships homeported in the Pacific, including 5 at Yokosuka, Japan, 6 at Pearl Harbor, HI, and 5 at San Diego, CA. The growth occurred on the other coast, with 5 BMD-capable Aegis ships homeported in the Atlantic: 4 at Norfolk, VA, and 1 at Mayport, FL. By the end of FY 2012, the Navy is to still expected to have 16 BMD-capable Aegis ships homeported in the Pacific, but the number of Aegis-BMD ships homeported in the Atlantic is to grow to 13: 11 at Norfolk, and 2 at Mayport.

The FY 2010 budget will eventually improve that Navy’s number of BMD-capable ships to 27 (6 CG-47 cruisers, 21 DDG-51 destroyers), once all funded upgrades are complete. If the FY 2011 and 2012 budgets are approved, the total would become 35 fully equipped ships. In the end, it seems likely that a significant portion of America’s destroyer and cruiser fleets will receive these upgrades.

JS Kongo into Pearl
(click to view full)

They will not be alone on the seas. Japan has its own AEGIS BMD program, and began full installation of AEGIS BMD 3.6.1 systems in its Kongo Class AEGIS destroyers in 2007. All 4 ships have now finished their installations, and participated in BMD tests. The Japanese are also partnered with the USA to develop the SM-3 Block II: a larger, faster missile variant with an improved kill vehicle.

Other foreign warships reportedly equipped with AEGIS Long Range Surveillance & Tracking version 3.0 include the Spanish SPS Mendez Nunez [F 104], and Australia’s forthcoming Hobart Class air defense destroyers are closely derived from Navantia’s F100s. There are also reports that the Dutch De Zeven Provincien Class destroyer HNLMS Tromp [F 803] may be equivalently equipped, despite using the more advanced Thales APAR/SMART-L active array radar system, and a Thales combat system. The Tromp, like the Mendez Nunez, has been involved in American anti-missile tests as a tracking ship. Finally, South Korea’s KDX-III project AEGIS destroyers, which are even larger than the American Arleigh Burke Class, are certainly capable of receiving similar upgrades

Contracts & Updates

DDG-70 fires SM-3
(click to enlarge)

Aug 23/11: Raytheon Missile Systems Co. in Tucson, AZ receives a $9.8 million sole-source, cost-plus-award-fee contract modification. The CLIN 0008 option, “Future Upgrades and Engineering Support,” will help the Missile Defense Agency execute technical analysis for the Aegis BMD 5.1/SM-3 Block IIA combination, and increases the total contract value from $276.7 – $286.5 million.

....MDA states that an in-service Aegis ship with no BMD capability can be given a 3.6.1 BMD capability for about $10 million to $15 million, or a 4.0.1 BMD capability for about $53 million. MDA states that an in-service ship with a 3.6.1 BMD capability can be upgraded to a 4.0.1 BMD capability for about $45 million to $55 million.”

July 5/11: Lockheed Martin has begn testing its AEGIS ACB-12/ Baseline 9 combination (SPY-1 radar & multi-mission signal processor (MMSP)) against live aircraft in a “stressing electronic-attack environment.” The instrumented, pod-equipped Learjets are operated by firms like L-3, on behalf of the US Navy.

ACB-12 will equip both retrofitted ships and new DDG-51 destroyers. Lockheed Martin’s delivery date for Baseline 9 is November 2012, with certification about a year later. Next steps include simulations of a modern Midway-style scenario involving enemy aircraft and ballistic missiles, which have gained new urgency with reports of China’s DF-21 ballistic anti-ship missile. Jim Judd is currently Lockheed Martin’s technical director for ACB-12. Aviation Week.

June 3/11: Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ receives a $219.5 million cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification, finalizing work for the FTM-16 ballistic missile defense test. This finalizes the total contract at $294.5 million, which includes the engineering, development, testing, support and material necessary to deliver an SM-3 Block 1B missile; and to provide engineering support, production engineering and obsolescence, surveillance and flight test support, and travel during the 55-month (about 4.5 year) performance period.

FTM-16 is scheduled for late summer 2011. It will demonstrate AEGIS BMD 4.0.1 mounted in USS Lake Erie [CG 70], in conjunction with the 1st flight test of the SM-3 Block IB interceptor. Work will be performed in Tucson, AZ through Sept 30/15, and about $32 million in FY 2011 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be used. The US Missile Defense Agency at Dahlgren Naval Base, VA manages this contract (HQ0276-11-C-0002). See also US MDA testimony to HASC [PDF].

June 1/11: Photon Research Associates in San Diego, CA receives a $9.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for specialized technical systems analysis services in support of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, as well as the land-based THAAD program, on behalf of the US Navy ($8 million/ 85%) and the government of Japan ($1.4 million/ 15%).

These services involve operations research support, physics analysis, test plans and procedures, test data collection analysis and test data review, test monitoring, real-time mission support, technical management support, technical reports and briefing preparations, in support of test and evaluation and systems engineering activities related to various national test ranges as required.

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA (70%), and the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, HI (30%). Work is expected to be complete in May 2013, and $401,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-2, by the US Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake, CA (N68936-11-C-0023).

April 15/11: Flight Test Standard Missile-15 (FTM-15) fires an SM-3 Block 1A missile against an intermediate-range (officially, 1,864 – 3,418 miles) target, based on AN/TPY-2 ground-based radar data, before the USS O’Kane (DDG 77, equipped with AEGIS BMD 3.6.1) could pick the target up using its own radar. Initial indications are that all components performed as designed, and the missile recorded the 21st successful AEGIS BMD intercept in 25 tries.

The target missile was launched from the Reagan Test Site, located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, approximately 2,300 miles SW of Hawaii. The AN/TPY-2 radar, which is also used as part of the THAAD missile system, was located on Wake Island, and crewed by Soldiers from the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. It detected and tracked the missile, then sent trajectory information to the 613th Air and Space Operations Center’s C2BMC system at Hickam Air Force Base, HI. That was relayed to USS O’Kane, sailing to the west of Hawaii, which launched the SM-3-1A missile about 11 minutes after target take-off. O’Kane’s own AN/SPY-1 radar eventually picked up the incoming missile itself, and controlled the missile until impact.

FTM-15 was less dramatic than the SM-3’s 2008 satellite kill, but it’s equally significant. Launch on remote track was supposed to wait for AEGIS BMD 5.1, and SM-3 Block IB was suposed to begin addressing IRBMs, with full capability only in SM-3 block II. Instead, the test also combined to extend the current system’s proven capabilities, while validating the difficult connections that make a missile defense system more than the sum of its parts, and proving out an important early warning element (STSS satellites) in the system. US MDA | Lockheed Martin | Raytheon | Lexington Institute.

April 6/11: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $34.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee/ cost-plus-award-fee modification with technical/schedule performance incentives. That money will be used to fund schedule and “within scope” adjustments to AEGIS BMD Baseline 4.0.1 development, and to multi-mission signal processor (MMSP) development under two separate contract line items (CLINs). Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ, and runs through December 2014. FY 2011 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used to fund this effort, and the US Missile Defense Agency manages the contract (HQ0276-10-C-0001).

For AEGIS BMD 4.0.1, the contract funds an initial delay in the certification schedule, and an adjustment to the original test plan.

For MMSP, it covers an extension to the development schedule, to account for alignment with changes to the ACB-12 overall combat system development and integration program plan. Those changes are “attributable to a delay in delivery of government furnished equipment.”

March 31/11: Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Sudbury, MA receives a not-to-exceed $10.4 million delivery order for a set of AEGIS BMD radar electronics upgrades. Items include a stabile master oscillator (STAMO); radio frequency (RF) combiner; ordnance alteration kits; and associated spares, material and installation services. The STAMO provides a very precise and pure RF source that is amplified in the Continuous Wave Illuminator, so the Fire Control System can illuminate targets for a missile engagement. The RF Coherent Combiner modification improves the accuracy of power and phase monitoring, reducing the need for sphere tracks to assess radar performance.

Raytheon confirmed to DID that these items were AEGIS BMD related. Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA (45%); Burlington, MA (28%); and Andover, MA (27%), and is expected to be complete by August 2013 (N00024-11-G-5116, #0010).

March 24/11: The US GAO issues report #GAO-11-372: “Missile Defense: Actions Needed to Improve Transparency and Accountability.” Key excerpts:

“In 2010, MDA was able to meet or exceed its delivery goals for several MDA activities, such as missile defense upgrades to Aegis ships…. MDA finalized a new process in which detailed baselines were set for several missile defense systems…. [but] GAO found its unit and life-cycle cost baselines had unexplained inconsistencies and documentation for six baselines had insufficient evidence to be a high-quality cost estimate…. GAO makes 10 recommendations for MDA to strengthen its resource, schedule and test baselines, facilitate baseline reviews, and further improve transparency and accountability. GAO is also making a recommendation to improve MDA’s ability to carry out its test plan. In response, DOD fully concurred with 7 recommendations. It partially concurred with 3….”

Jan 5/10: Lockheed Martin provides a year-end update of AEGIS BMD progress to date. It is now installed on 21 American ships, as well as all 4 of Japan’s Kongo Class destroyers.

AEGIS BMD 4.0.1 was formally tested in June 2010, with at sea tracking exercises of medium and intermediate range targets during the last quarter of 2010. That iteration will finish AEGIS BMD’s transition an open electronic architecture during the “Advanced Capability Build 12” software and hardware upgrades, scheduled for 2012.

July 7/10: A Gannett’s Navy Times story discusses their copy of a fleet review panel report. The panel, headed by Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle (ret.), says that:

“The SPY radar has historically been the best supported system in the surface Navy, and coincidentally supports one of the most critical Navy missions today: ballistic-missile defense. Yet SPY manpower, parts, training and performance are in decline…. it can be assumed that less important systems could well be in worse material condition.”

Problems behind the rise in requests for technical assistance, and poor performance in inspection reports, include a lack of top-qualified personnel, sailors who aren’t fully trained on maintaining the radars, and a Navy bureaucracy and maintenance funding shortages that make it so difficult to order replacement parts, crews are giving up and commanders are choosing to take risks with lower performance, in order to avoid sidelining the ship. Retired Office of Naval Intelligence analyst and longtime “Combat Fleets of the World” editor A.D. Baker III, offered this summation:

“The Aegis readiness shortfall is just one of a vast number of problems related to pushing people too far and not giving them the training or funding resources to carry out their duties properly…. This will significantly affect our putative BMD capability. The money is going to missile development and procurement, not to maintenance of the detection and tracking system – without which the best missiles in the world won’t be of much use.”

June 14/10: Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $131.6 million modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-5101) for 4 multi-mission signal processor equipment sets, 4 ballistic missile defense 4.0.1 equipment sets, and 6 Aegis weapon system upgraded equipment sets.

Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (82%); Clearwater, FL (13%); and Eagan, MN (5%), and is expected to be complete by September 2013. $9.1 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington Navy Yard, DC manages this contract.

April 26/10: Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $151.9 million cost-plus-incentive-fee/ cost-plus-award-fee modification, exercising options to complete the development and test of the Aegis BMD Baseline 4.0.1, then install and verify it in 4 Aegis cruisers or destroyers.

Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ from April 2010 through Dec 31/13, and $10 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding from the FY 2010 budget will be used to get this effort underway for the US Missile Defense Agency (HQ0276-10-C-0001).

Feb 10/10: Lockheed Martin announces that the US Navy awarded the company a $160 million follow-on contract for technical and engineering support at its land-based test facility for the Aegis Ballistic Defense (BMD) System. The Combat Systems Engineering Development Site (CSEDS) in Moorestown, NJ, develops and integrates computer software for the Aegis BMD System. In addition to ongoing support for CSEDS, the new contract calls for Lockheed Martin to support, operate and maintain the Naval Systems Computing Center (NSCC) and the SPY-1A naval radar test suite located near CSEDS.

AEGIS BMD, 2009
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Nov 12/09: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announces the next 6 ships that will be modified for AEGIS BMD. All will be stationed on the East Coast, which currently has just 2 BMD-capable ships. Defense News.

Oct 21/09: Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, N.J., is received a Cost-Plus-Incentive-Fee / Cost-Plus-Award-Fee contract with a total value of $1.035 billion, to serve as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Combat System engineering agent and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon System design, development and computer program source for Aegis cruisers and destroyers.

Work is to be performed in Moorestown, NJ from Oct 1/09 through Dec 31/14. FY 2009 RDT&E funding will be used to incrementally fund this effort for $15.2 million. The Missile Defense Agency in Dahlgren, VA issued the contract (HQ0276-10-C-0001).

June 23/09: Lockheed Martin announces that it has installed the latest BMD 4.0.1 evolution and new Aegis BSP signal processor on the cruiser USS Lake Erie [CG-70]. Over the next year, USS Lake Erie will complete a series of tests, leading up to full certification of the system upgrade by the U.S. Navy in early 2011.

May 12/09: Raytheon, Integrated Defense Systems in Sudbury, MA received a $6.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order, with delivery incentives, for one AN/SPY-1 radar transmitter multi-mission capability ordnance alteration kit, including radio frequency monitor coherent combiner, technical manual changes and installation/checkout spares.

The AN/SPY-1 radar transmitter multi-mission capability modifications are part of the Aegis modernization program along with the multi-mission capability enhancement, a commercial-off-the-shelf based multi-mission signal processor which is being developed in parallel with this procurement. The multi-mission signal processor, and these transmitter modifications, will provide the AN/SPY-1D radar system with near AN/SPY-1D (V) radar performance, augmented with full AEGIS ballistic missile defense signal processor capabilities.

Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA (67.5%); Sudbury, MA (20.5%); and Andover, MA (12%), and is expected to be complete by October 2010. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington Navy Yard, DC (N00024-06-G-5109).

Oct 21/08: Operational Testing of the Aegis BMD 3.6 System completed.

March 10/07: General Dynamics Information Technology announces a contract by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to provide support to the Missile Defense Agency’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program directorate. The contract has a total potential value of $191 million over 5 years, if all options are exercised. Under the contract, General Dynamics will provide systems engineering and program management assistance to Aegis BMD for production, fleet introduction and fleet operations and support. The company also will provide test and evaluation engineering management and safety, quality and mission assurance engineering; and support international programs including Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and cooperative development activities.

Feb 28/07: Lockheed Martin Maritime Sensors and Systems in Moorestown, NJ received a $979.2 million cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to continue design, test, and deliver the AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Block 2006/2008 (Consolidated) Weapon System capability (BMD Baseline 4.0.1). Updates will include an improved signal processor, and continue the AEGIS BMD’s migration to open architecture electronics.

Work will be performed at Moorestown, New Jersey and is expected to be complete by Dec. 2010. The contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. FY2007 research and development funds will be used. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity (N00024-03-C-6110).

Additional Readings

• US MDA – Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense: Future Capabilities

• GlobalSecurity.org – AEGIS Weapon System Mk7

• AEGIS to be used for weather forecasting?

• Wikipedia – AEGIS Combat System

• US NAVSEA – AEGIS upgrade. Details Advanced Capability Build 2012 (ACB 12) and Technical Insertion 2012 (TI 12).

• HighFrontier.org – Sea-Based Platforms

• GlobalSecurity.org – AN/SPY-1 Radar. Interesting analysis of some of the systems weaknesses as well.

• DID FOCUS Article – Raytheon’s Standard Missile Naval Defense Family. Includes ongoing information re: naval anti ballistic missile tests.

• DID FOCUS Article – Dead Aim, Or Dead End? The USA’s DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class Program. Its Raytheon SPY-3 active array radar is not an AEGIS family component, but it will have superior performance and offer its own built-in ballistic missile defense capability, while allowing Cooperative Engagement Capability with AEGIS ships. In addition, the Open Architecture listing in the article’s Additional Readings section contains more materials on that topic.

• DID Spotlight – Japan’s Fleet BMD Upgrades. Covers their Kongo Class AEGIS destroyers.

• US Congressional Research Service (June 23/11) – Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program: Background and Issues for Congress [PDF]

• USN PEO-IWS (April 11/11) – Surface Navy Combat System Development Update [PDF]. Presented to The Navy League Sea Air and Space Symposium by Bill Bray. AEGIS evolution features prominently.

• US GAO (March 24/11, #GAO-11-372) – Missile Defense: Actions Needed to Improve Transparency and Accountability

• Aviation Week (Jan 8/09) – Sea-Based BMD Gains Credibility

• Information Dissemination (Sept 23/09) – Fact Check – Technicals of AEGIS BMD

• Marshal Institute (Aug 3/09) – “Update on Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and the Navy Air and Missile Defense Center,” Rear Admiral Alan B. Hicks

• DID (Dec 18/07) – US Missile Defense Shifting Toward More Realistic Testing?

• Information Dissemination (June 21/07) – US Navy Ballistic Missile Defense. Well researched article covering the USA’s plans in this area, including ships slated to receive ABM capability.

• Lockheed Martin (Feb 28/07) – Lockheed Martin Awarded $ 979 Million For Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense