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Serious Dollars for AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)

Sep 26, 2018 04:58 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

Latest update [?]

September 26/18: AEGIS The Naval Sea Systems Command is modifying a contract that sees for the development of the Aegis Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 20. The contract modification awarded to Lockheed Martin is valued at $78.3 million and provides for the design, development, integration, testing and delivery of the new capability build. ACB 20 is the next effort in the Aegis modernization program. It will integrate the new AN/SPY-6 radar, RIM-162 ESSMs, and CIWS sensor data. This development effort is planned for fielding on new construction Aegis DDG 51 Flight III ships that will enter service in 2023. Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Moorestown, New Jersey and is expected to be completed by December 2021.

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

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.