By Geoff Fein
Lockheed Martin Canada [LMT] will begin work this fall to modernize that country’s Halifax-class frigates’ command and control systems, providing the ability to operate in the littorals and improving the ships’ self-defense capabilities, according to a company official.
“What we are doing is a complete replacement of the mission software package and that’s the primary role Lockheed Martin Canada is doing and we are doing that in conjunction with Saab,” Don McClure, vice president of business development for Lockheed Martin Canada, told Defense Daily recently.
The modernization effort will basically bring the frigate, which is undergoing a mid-life upgrade, a very modern modular based combat management system and control system using a commercial-off-the-shelf computing architecture, he added.
The upgrade will improve the Halifax-class’ ability to work in the littoral combat area, improve its anti-air warfare protection, and add capability to its fire and control system for the improved Sea Sparrow missile, McClure said.
Additionally, there will also be an upgrade to the helicopter control system in anticipation of the new maritime helicopter project–the Sikorsky [UTC] S-92–that will be delivered to the Canadian navy in the next couple of years, he added. “All the shipboard software and system changes to handle that.”
Along with improvements to the Halifax-class’ radar suite to support both the anti-air warfare and littoral operations capabilities, Lockheed Martin is adding a new 3-D radar and new fire control radars, McClure said.
IBM [IBM] is bringing an improved data link to the frigates that will increase the ability to work with other task forces and naval groups, he added.
And Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors (MS2) operations in Moorestown, N.J., also supports the modernization program.
Lockheed Martin Canada signed a $2 billion contract with the Canadian government in November 2008. The company passed its preliminary design review in July 2009 and will enter into critical design review this coming July, McClure noted. “In October 2010 the first ship goes into the yard for refit.”
The Lockheed Martin-led team was awarded a $1.4 billion contract for the Combat System Integration and an award for in-service support valued at approximately $600 million, according to the Canadian government (Defense Daily, Sept. 9, 2008).
The work will be done at both Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax Shipyards and at Washington Marine Group’s Victoria Shipyards, McClure said.
Besides modernizing the Halifax-class’ combat systems, the 18-month upgrade includes modernizing the ships’ hull, mechanical and electrical systems, he added.
Lockheed Martin Canada is also looking at the opportunities to take this modernization effort to foreign navies, McClure said.
“That is one of the things we are just embarking on this year,” he said. “We have had some initial inquiries but it’s in the early days of that.”
One of the more challenging parts of the upgrade program is linking up the Halifax-class’ legacy systems with the new hardware and software being installed, McClure said.
“[There is] a lot of work to make sure the new systems that are purchased and installed on ships, and the legacy system that will remain, all work together with the new combat system software. “That’s the phase we are in right now,” he said. “It is something that is challenging and it’s an area that we’ve got quite a bit of experience working with this class of ships. We are familiar with the legacy systems. The more modern systems have more straightforward interfaces based on more commercial standards. That is an area of work that gets more technically challenging. There is some risk there, but we are retiring those risks day-by-day.”
Lockheed Martin Canada also is under contract to provide in-service support, which will cover bringing upgrades onto modernized ships, McClure said.
The modernization effort is a design and build contract to upgrade and deliver the 12 Halifax frigates. “There is a parallel contract for in-service support so if there is any new items that come up they would be implemented under the in-service contact,” he added. “That’s a key element in trying to [take risk out of] the delivery of the system.
“One of the concepts we are pretty focused on between ourselves and the Canadian navy is to make sure that any changes are well handled…are funded and delivered out of the in-service support contract,” McClure said. “It’s a 13-year contract with three years of options. It’s a very long-term contract.”
Additionally, the design and build contract is a firm fixed-price contract, McClure said.
“The in-service support contract on the other hand, is more of an IDIQ-type contract,” he added. “Because you don’t know what is going to be under that contract, so it makes sense to have it under a cost-plus basis whereas the design and build…the scope and requirements were well defined up front and we have tried to avoid developmental items as much as possible.”
There are also opportunities for Lockheed Martin Canada to expand this work into that nation’s follow-on ship effort, the Canadian surface combatant program, McClure said.
“They intend to replace their air warfare destroyers as well as Halifax-class ships. That would be a sizeable undertaking,” he added.