Lockheed Martin is awarded contract to integrate Aegis Weapon System on US Navy DDG 51 missile destroyers.

According to a contract released by the U.S. DoD on September 3, 2020, Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $51,865,301 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-5151 to exercise options for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 16 for nine new construction guided missile destroyer (DDG 51).
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The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for deployment, Aug. 31, 2020. (Picture source U.S. Navy)

This option exercise is for Aegis shipboard integration engineering, Aegis test team support, Aegis modernization team engineering support, Ballistic missile defense test team support and AWS element assessments. This contract action provides AWS ship integration and test efforts for nine new construction guided missile destroyer (DDG 51) Class ships and the major modernization of seven DDG 51 Class ships. It will additionally cover the integrated combat system modifications and upgrades for all current ships with all AWS Baselines up to and including ACB 16.

The DDG-51 program for U.S. Navy was initiated in the late 1970s. 8 The DDG-51 is a multi-mission destroyer with an emphasis on air defense (which the Navy refers to as anti-air warfare, or AAW) and blue-water (mid-ocean) operations.

DDG-51s, like the Navy’s 22 Ticonderoga (CG-47) class cruisers, are equipped with the Aegis combat system, an integrated ship combat system named for the mythological shield that defended Zeus. CG-47s and DDG-51s consequently are often referred to as Aegis cruisers and Aegis destroyers, respectively, or collectively as Aegis ships. The Aegis system has been updated several times over the years. Existing DDG-51s (and also some CG-47s) are being modified to receive an additional capability for ballistic missile defense (BMD) operations.9

The first DDG-51 was procured in FY1985 and entered service in 1991. A total of 79 have been procured through FY2018, including 62 in FY1985-FY2005 and 17 in FY2010-FY2018. (During the period FY2006-FY2009, the Navy procured three Zumwalt [DDG-1000] class destroyers rather than DDG-51s.) With a total of 79 ships funded through FY2018, the DDG-51 program is, in terms of number of hulls, one of the largest Navy shipbuilding programs since World War II. At the end of FY 2019, a total of 66 DDG-51s were in service, 10 are under construction and 11 additional ships are already ordered.