Digital Battlespace
LM and Raytheon tie up for USN EW contract
Lockheed Martin has announced that it is teaming with Raytheon to compete for the US Navy’s electronic attack anti-ship missile requirement.
In a statement released on 31 January the company said that the navy’s Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 upgrade will seek to ‘cost effectively enhance the electronic attack capability of its AN/SLQ-32 V(3) and V(4) electronic warfare systems to counter threat technology advances’.
‘SEWIP Block 3 is the latest upgrade in an evolutionary succession the [US] navy is pursuing for its EW system. Each upgrade incrementally adds new defensive technologies and functional capabilities,’ the statement read.
‘The Lockheed Martin-Raytheon team intends to offer a SEWIP Block 3 solution derived from more than 80 years of combined, proven experience in developing systems to defend the fleet.’
This follows a $167 million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin by the navy in November 2009, under which the company is developing the Block 2 element of the programme, and includes integration of ‘passive detection capabilities for advanced threats and establishes a framework to easily integrate future upgrades,’ the statement said.
Block 2 passed its CDR last February, and two engineering development models are currently undergoing integration and testing at Lockheed Martin’s new EW system test facility in Syracuse, NY, US, the company said. An RfP for Block 3 is anticipated later this year.
All US aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and other warships use the AN/SLQ-32 EW system, and the platform was originally developed by Raytheon for EW, identification and tracking of enemy threats some 40 years ago.
‘Lockheed Martin's experience on the current SEWIP Block 2 system combined with Raytheon's expertise in shipboard EW will give US Navy fleet commanders a critical advantage on the seas,’ Mark Kula, VP, Tactical Airborne Systems, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems concluded in the statement.
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