Marking a significant milestone toward an initial capability to defend the nation from a long-range ballistic missile attack, Lockheed Martin successfully completed land-based testing of the first deployable Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Long Range Surveillance and Tracking capability. Aegis BMD is part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) being developed by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Navy.

The Aegis Combat System, in particular its SPY-1 radar and associated command, control, and communication systems, provides significantly extended long-range surveillance and tracking for ballistic missile defense. Target data from Aegis systems are fed into the BMDS Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) system, supporting Combatant Commander situational awareness. Aegis target data also provides fire control information to the Ground Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, supporting cuing of its radars, as well as the launch of a Ground Based Interceptor in certain scenarios.

The land-based test, conducted at the U.S. Navy Combat System Engineering Development Site on August 27, used simulated interfaces with the GMD and C2BMC systems. The purpose of the test was to verify that the Aegis system met requirements in preparation for installation, testing, and deployment in Aegis Destroyers. MDA and the U.S. Navy will ultimately outfit 15 Navy destroyers with this long-range surveillance and track capability. Three Navy cruisers will be outfitted with a similar surveillance capability, along with the capability to engage ballistic missiles with the Standard Missile-3.

The test is an important step towards meeting the direction from the President and the Congress to field an initial missile defense capability in 2004-2005.

The Aegis Weapon System is the world's premier naval surface defense system and an important element of the BMDS. Aegis is currently deployed on 69 U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers on station around the globe, and at least 20 more ships are currently planned. Aegis is also the primary weapon system on the Japanese Kongo-class destroyers, it is part of two European ship construction programs - the Spanish F-100 and the Norwegian New Frigate - and the Republic of Korea is now building three Aegis-equipped destroyers. Recently, Australia selected the Aegis Weapon System for its Air Warfare Destroyer program.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile defense system. It also has considerable experience in interceptor systems, kill vehicles, battle management command, control and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, as well as radar and other sensors that enable signal processing and data fusion. The company makes significant contributions to all 10 major U.S. Missile Defense Systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships. Lockheed Martin Corporation is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin