Lockheed Tapped For Trident Work | DoS Approves AIM Sale To Finland | Japan Considers Submarine-Launch Variant For New Long-Range Stand-Off Missile

Americas

Lockheed Martin Space won a $49.9 million modification for Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support. The contract award also benefits a foreign military sale to the United Kingdom. Work will take place in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Maryland and various other locations. Work is expected to be completed on September 30, 2027. Fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $49,942,303 will be obligated. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Raytheon won a $397.7 million modification from the US Navy to exercise options for fiscal 2023 guided missile assemblies, shipping containers, and spare parts in support of the fiscal 2021-2023 Evolved Seasparrow Missile Block 2 full-rate production requirements. Work will take place in Arizona, Australia, California, Norway, Netherlands, Greece, New York, Turkey, Denmark and other locations. Expected completion will be by March 2027.

Middle East & Africa

Israel’s Elbit Systems transformed its OneSim™ simulation software infrastructure to be cloud native, and its services can now be delivered to authorized users from a Microsoft Azure cloud. Working closely with Microsoft engineers, Elbit Systems redesigned the architecture of the OneSim™ infrastructure to meet the requirements of cloud solutions and upload the OneSim™ to the Microsoft Azure cloud. OneSim™ is Elbit Systems’ platform-agnostic simulation software infrastructure that provides land, air and marine users a complete solution for training systems, from a stand-alone simulator and up to multi-platform Mission Training Centers.

Europe

The US Defense Department on Monday announced the approval of a $323 million sale of AIM 9X Block II tactical missiles and AGM-154 Joint Stand Off Weapons to Finland. “The proposed sale will improve Finland’s air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons capabilities and will positively impact US relations with countries in the Nordic region,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The announcement on the sale of 40 AIM 9Xs and 48 AGM-154s comes more than nine months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which pushed both Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership.

Finland’s Ministry of Defense plans to sign a $13.1 million contract with BAE Systems Bofors to procure 57-millimeter naval guns for the Finnish Navy’s future Pohjanmaa-class multirole corvettes. According to the ministry, the agreement was coordinated with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to cut costs, enabling the Finnish and Swedish navies to simultaneously acquire the same 57-millimeter variants at a lower price. The latest contract follows Finland and BAE Systems’ previous partnership that delivered 57-millimeter artillery systems such as 57Mk3 and 57A to the Finnish Navy.

Asia-Pacific

According to the Nikkei, the Japanese Ministry of Defense is giving consideration to a submarine-launch variant of the new long-range stand-off missile being developed. Japan’s submarines are difficult to detect and this will be a deterrent factor.

Today’s Video

WATCH: Hamina-class missile boat | The protector of the Finnish coasts

RIM-162 ESSM Missile: Naval Anti-Air in a Quad Pack

The RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft, and is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. Compared to the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, ESSM is effectively a new missile with a larger, more powerful rocket motor for increased range, a different aerodynamic layout for improved agility, and the latest missile guidance technology. Testing has even shown the ESSM to be effective against fast surface craft, an option that greatly expands the missile’s utility. As a further bonus, the RIM-162 ESSM has the ability to be “quad-packed” in the Mk 41 vertical launching system, allowing 4 missiles to be carried per launch cell instead of loading one larger SM-2 Standard missile or similar equipment.

This is DID’s FOCUS article for the program, containing details about the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile family, and contracts placed under this program since 1999. The Sea Sparrow was widely used aboard NATO warships, so it isn’t surprising that the ESSM is an international program. The NATO Sea Sparrow Consortium includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA – as well as non-NATO Australia. Foreign Military Sales ESSM customers outside this consortium include Japan, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.