By Geoff Fein
Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully demonstrated the second generation of its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) capability, known as 4.0.1, that will defeat more complex ballistic missile threats, the company said
Aegis BMD 4.0.1 also introduces the latest signal processor, which improves target identification for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Navy, Lockheed Martin said in a statement.
“4.0.1 brings a lot more capability from the perspective of being able to identify the complex threat that a ballistic missile presents and going after the right object,” Nick Bucci, Lockheed Martin director of BMD development programs, told Defense Daily recently.
Currently, the Navy has 20 of its 21 Aegis BMD capable ships operating with Lockheed Martin’s 3.6.1 systems. The 21st ship, the USS Lake Erie (CG-70), is testing and exercising with the new 4.0.1, Bucci noted.
“We put the hardware and compute program on Lake Erie and she’ll be going out for testing as part of the Japan Flight Test Mission Four this fall,” he added. “Lake Erie is doing calibration exercises now.”
A total of 23 Aegis BMD-equipped warships–20 in the Navy and three in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force–have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions. Twelve additional ships have been identified for modification to perform ballistic missile defense in the next 36 months, Lockheed Martin said in a statement.
The 4.0.1 technology is Lockheed Martin’s transition from a capability perspective to the open architecture environment as part of the BMD 5.0 program and Advanced Capability Build 12, which is part of the full-up Aegis Modernization (Aegis MOD) effort, Bucci said.
That transition to the Navy’s open architecture is scheduled for 2012, the company said.
“We classify 4.0.1 and 5.0 as the second generation because their capabilities are the same. But what we are doing is taking an initial step into the open architecture capabilities and…architecture with 4.0.1 and then finalizing it with ACB 12 and Aegis MOD,” Bucci said. “Then we go forward into the third generation which is what we are calling BMD 5.1 where we bring in the SM-3 Block 2A missile.”
The SM-3 Block 2A is built by Raytheon [RTN].
This upgrade is enhanced by the Aegis system’s ability to incorporate commercial off-the-shelf computing technology and open architecture standards. Further testing–a tracking exercise this fall and an at sea intercept test in March 2011–will result in certification and deployment in September 2011, the company statement said.
The MDA and the Navy are jointly developing and fielding Aegis BMD as part of the BMD system. Recently, the Navy’s independent operational test agent assessed the first generation Aegis BMD and SM-3 Block IA system to be operationally effective and operationally suitable.