Concept for BMD ship from Huntington Ingalls
Posted on 04/08/2016 10:33:58 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
As Lockheed Martin Corp. continues to outfit U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers with its newest combat system suite, the company sees an opportunity to expand to other ships.
In particular, the company would like to put its signature Aegis Combat System on the next San Antonio-class landing platform/dock, the LPD-28, currently under contract to be built by Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries.
“From where I sit, it just makes a lot of sense,” Jim Sheridan, Lockheed’s director of Aegis U.S. Navy programs, told me.
The Aegis Combat System is the collection of radars, sonars, launch systems, and weapon control systems found on Naval cruisers and destroyers. It is responsible for searching, detecting, tracking and engaging enemy ships, submarines, aircraft and missiles at sea. It is currently outfitted to 62 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and another 22 cruisers.
The most recent iteration of the Aegis is the so-called “Baseline 9” configuration, which in addition to updating existing systems adds a ballistic missile defense capability and an ability to detect and engage threats “over the horizon.” Lockheed has modernized five destroyers and three cruisers thus far and has plans to outfit two to three more ships a year depending on budget outlays.
There is also a version of the system being deployed on land called the Aegis Ashore system. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is working right now to install them in Romania and Poland to protect against potential ballistic missile threats. Aegis is already present on many platforms and Lockheed (NYSE: LMT) wants to expand its footprint.
“We put it ashore, we put it on Aegis cruisers, we put it on destroyers, why not put it on something else?” Sheridan said.
The LPD-28 seems like a prime candidate. On Dec. 4, 2015, Huntington Ingalls won a $200 million contract to begin engineering and design activities on what will be the 12th San Antonio class ship in the fleet.
Lockheed sees this an opportunity to strike while the iron is hot.
Concept for BMD ship from Huntington Ingalls
Certainly make it a much more flexible platform.
More flexible might just might mean not particularly good at anything.
Seems to me that there’s enough on an LPD already. What do they plan on taking off, in order to make room?
If the Aegis system is good at protecting ships, wouldn’t it be wise to place it on ships?
The way the world is going we’d better put them on the Cruise Ships too.
Maybe ok, but it looks too large to be easily surrendered to Iran. Sigh.
Sure can surrender a lot of intelligence and gear to the birates though.
Do we even put enough guns on our ships nowadays?
That thing looks pretty naked. As does the Zumwalt “destroyer”.
Talk about platinum plating, If you need a battlespace management system for second line ships, the US navy could get a more suitable, better, more modern, lighter, and cheaper system from Japan, Israel, Australia, and probably a couple Euro firms than the biggest and bestest Aegis
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