Lockheed Martin is in discussions with Raytheon on how best to integrate the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) into the Aegis combat system for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers (DDG-51).
“That’s going to be part of what we’re calling ACB[Advance Capability Build]-Next, and we are under contract to do that,” Jim Sheridan, Lockheed’s director of Aegis programs told reporters on Monday.
“Those discussions have initiated, now we’re kind of reviewing each others specs.”
Sheridan said that the new Raytheon-built radar, which will replace the Lockheed-built SPY-1D radar on the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, will be part of the Navy’s Aegis Baseline 10.
The second ship to be ordered in fiscal year 2016 will be the first AMDR-equipped Flight III ship in the fleet.
Meanwhile, Sheridan said that the company has been aware of a Navy plan to perform a minimal upgrade to 21 out 28 Flight I and II DDG-51-class destroyers for over six months. The ships would retain the current version of the Aegis combat system with a Ballistic Missile Defense 4.01 processor grafted on it.
Sheridan said that the Navy’s plan would save the service time in fielding ballistic missile defense capable Aegis ships compared to the full Baseline 9 integrated air and missile defense upgrade that had been planned earlier. Baseline 9 incorporates a complete overhaul of the ships’ computer architecture.
The Navy continues to modify ships with Baseline 9, which will incorporate the Navy Integrate Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) capability. The first Baseline 9 ship, USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), performed several successful live-fire Standard SM-6 missile shots last year, Sheridan said.
Data from those shots have been used to refine the system and the Navy hopes to conduct more NIFC-CA shots later this month, Sheridan said.
