Lockheed Tapped For DDG 51 Support | Finland And Sweden Agree To Procure Military Vehicle Systems | Australia Invests In Local Production Of New Bomb Disposal Robots

Americas

Lockheed Martin won a $26.4 million modification to exercise options for Machinery Control System production shipsets in support of both the DDG 51 modernization program and DDG 51 new construction. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by November 2026. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,136,084 (35%); and fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $17,237,038 (65%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems won an $8 million modification under Aegis BMD Weapon Systems contract HQ085121C0002. This modification establishes new Contract Line Item Numbers 0063 and 0066 to support Digital Receive Upgrade urgent material efforts.  Obligation in the amount of $8,243,462 using fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation funds will occur at the time of award. The work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, with period of performance from time of award through February 29, 2024.

Middle East & Africa

Elbit Systems will participate at the DEFEA exhibition in Athens, Greece between 9-11th of May 2023 and exhibit a wide range of products and systems at its booth with both visual and interactive displays. Elbit Systems views the display of its state-of-the-art portfolio of solutions at stand in Hall 2 stand B2 at DEFEA as an important contribution to the strengthening of its relationships with Greece, NATO and Europe. The war in Ukraine has highlighted the increasing releavance of our solutions to the European Market. In 2022 Elbit Systems reported a 40% increase in sales to European countries. As a reflection of the growing demand, the Company will display a range of cutting edge technological solutions that can be customized to the customers’ requirements.

Europe

Finland has signed an agreement with Sweden to procure military vehicle systems and related capabilities for their armed forces. The strategic partnership was established by the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration in Tampere. The pact will increase the joint military procurement of both countries while reducing budget costs.

Russia will “develop” its military installations in Central Asian ally Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said Monday, following talks between the two countries’ leaders in Moscow. “The heads of state emphasized the importance of strengthening the Kyrgyz Republic’s armed forces and developing Russian military facilities on its territory,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Kyrgyzstan, a majority-Muslim country of nearly seven million people, hosts a Russian military base made up of an airfield, a naval installation on Lake Issyk-Kul and several other sites.

Asia-Pacific

Australia has contracted Queensland-based L3Harris Micreo to deliver up to 80 new explosive ordnance disposal robots for the country’s military, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy announced during a visit in Cairns. Valued at $31 million, the agreement supports Australian defense efforts to bolster personnel safety during field bomb disposal operations.

Today’s Video

WATCH: Here is The New Generation of High-Tech, Heavily Armed DDG 51 Flight III Destroyers

Adding Arleigh Burkes: H.I.I. Steps Forward for DDG-51 Restart

In April 2009 Bath and Ingalls agreed to the Navy’s surface combatant plans, thus heralding a significant restructuring within the American naval shipbuilding community. Under the agreements, the USA would end production at 3 Graf Spee sized DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers,” but shift all production from the Congressionally-mandated joint arrangements to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, which had already made program-related investments in advanced shipbuilding technologies.

Northrop Grumman (now Huntington Ingalls Industries) would retain its DDG-1000 deckhouse work, but their main exchange was additional orders for DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. Their Ingalls yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi would continue building the DDG-51 destroyers, beginning with 2 ordered in FY 2010-2011.

Serious Dollars for AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)

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). That lets it receive cues from other platforms and provide 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 proliferation of mass-destruction weapons, the US Navy is being pushed toward a “shield of the nation” role as the USA’s most flexible and most numerous option for missile defense. AEGIS BMD modifications are the keystone of that effort – in the USA, and beyond.