Don’t Give Up the Ship

Dear Members and Friends,

MDAA recently had the opportunity to visit one of the United States Navy’s 23 Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Aegis ships docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii:  The USS O’Kane (DDG-77).  

Navy Radar Efforts Solidify BMD Commitment

Contractors vying for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) say they can deliver the system for much less than the government’s cost estimate because of their extensive experience building similar radar programs in recent years.

U.S. Second Fleet successfully tracks missile

The U.S Navy this past Saturday conducted a successful tracking test with its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The ships were not used to launch the missiles as this was a tracking exercise. The test ended eventually with the missile harmlessly falling into the Atlantic Ocean.

Lockheed Martin Awarded $119 Million Radar Contract to Defend Against Anti-Ship and Ballistic Missile Threats

 The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $119 million contract to demonstrate its conceptual designs for the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) intended to upgrade the Navy’s future capability against advanced anti-ship and ballistic missile threats.

Lockheed Martin was one of three industry teams competitively selected to advance its designs for the AMDR S-band radar and the radar suite controller under a 24-month technology demonstration phase contract.

“Lockheed Martin’s AMDR design provides a high performance radar suite capable of supporting simultaneous multi-mission operations in stressing environments, balanced with affordable lifecycle costs,” said Carl Bannar, vice president of Radar Systems. “Our team has developed an open-architecture and modular design that has matured technologies through significant investment by our company and the Navy.”

Moving Giant Rader Platform to Everett Raises Public Concern

Ronen Ziberman/Associated Press

 

The 25 story radar platform,  Sea-Based X-Band (SBX), is part of a national defense system designed to track ballistic missiles. The U.S. Navy and the Missile Defense Agency are considering moving the $900 million platform to Everett for repairs.   

Although the move would be temporary, the people of Everett worry about health hazards and communication disruption that may arise from the electromagnetic radiation produced from the radar station.  Everett and San Diego are the only military ports on the West Coast deep enough to accommodate the SBX.     

Iran Moves to Challenge U.S. in Middle East: Gates

Secretary of Defense Gates

Iran is challenging U.S. naval power in the Middle East with an array of offensive and defensive weapons, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday.

“Iran is combining ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, mines, and swarming speedboats in order to challenge our naval power in that region,” Gates told a conference of U.S. Navy advocates outside Washington.

Lockheed Martin Completes Live Tracking Aegis Exercise

Lockheed Martin has identified and tracked numerous live targets for the first time using its new Multi-Mission Signal Processor (MMSP). The MMSP is intended to help combine next-generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and Anti-Air Warfare capabilities in an open combat system architecture for the U.S. Navy.