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Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems in Goleta, CA received a $7.65 million firm-fixed-price order against previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00164-04-G-8W01 for the restoration of three AN/SLQ-32(B)(V)(2) and two AN/SLQ-32(A)(V)(2) anti-ship missile defense systems, aka. “Slick 32s”. These systems provide anti-ship missile defense capability via electronic jamming to destroyers and frigates. Work will be performed in Goleta, CA and is expected to be complete by March 2008. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division in Crane, IN issued the contract.
The SLQ-32 and other ECM systems are used in conjunction with Rapid Blooming Offboard Chaff (RBOC) and other decoys that fire either semi-automatically or on manual direction from a ship’s ECM operators. The four “Slick 32” variants are based on modular building blocks for different types of ships:
* (V)1 – variant for older frigates and amphibious ships (LSD, LPD, LST)
* (V)2 – variant for destroyers, frigates, and Coronado and La Salle Class command ships; has the capability of the (V)1 plus expanded frequency coverage
* (V)3 – configuration for cruisers, large amphibious ships (LCC, LHA/LHD, LPH, LPD-17), and auxiliaries (AOE, AOR, Blue Ridge Class command ships); has the (V)1 and (V)2 capabilities plus the means to counter or deceive missile guidance radars;
* (V)4 – configuration for aircraft carriers; based on (V)3.
Note that there are some exceptions to this rule; this ship list was accurate as of 1998.
As this Navy site notes, experience in the Persian Gulf in 1987-1988 (specifically, the failure of the ALQ-32 against the Exocet missile that hit the USS Stark) led the Navy to begin upgrading (V)2 units by adding ‘Sidekick’ active jamming packages to approach (V)3 capabilities for smaller ships. This combination is currently referred to as (V)5.
The site also notes that the “Slick 32” has been a source of controversy in the past over the rigor of its testing. GAO analysts argued that a set of 1992 tests were too benign to “approximate combat conditions or stress the system.” Raytheon contended that all test thresholds were “met with margin.”