Military & Aerospace Electronics:

Shipboard electronics experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. will replace and upgrade combat systems computer hardware, middleware, and firmware for existing U.S. Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers under terms of an $67.4 million order announced late last month.

Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking the Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems segment in Moorestown, N.J., to handle Aegis combat system engineering agent (CSEA) efforts to design and integrate Aegis combat system Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 20.

The Aegis combat system uses powerful computers and radar to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. More than 100 Aegis-equipped ships have been deployed in five navies worldwide. Aegis, not an acronym, refers to the shield of the mythical Greek God Zeus.

This order to Lockheed Martin is part of the Aegis Modernization (AMOD) program to upgrade Aegis computers through the ACB process. Aegis, developed in the 1980s, integrates the AN/SPY-1 radar, MK 99 fire control system, weapons control, the command and decision suite, and SM-2 Standard missile family, which includes the basic RIM-66 Standard, the RIM-67 extended range missile, and the newer RIM-161 designed to counter ballistic missiles…



Click here to read the full article.