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DOD (Richard L. Oasen)
The SPY-1D(v), a littoral-warfare upgrade to the SPY-1D phased-array radar system employed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and other vessels, will enhance the upcoming generation of ships in the Burke class. In this view aft from the bow of the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), the octagonal SPY-1D arrays can be seen mounted on the sides of the bridge.
DOD (Richard L. Oasen)

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Naval Systems: Cobham Extends Role for Aegis Support

By Edward J. Walsh
February 2011
Proceedings
Vol. 137/2/1,296
Article
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Cobham Antenna Systems is building critical electronic components for transfer of shipboard power to the Aegis SPY-1D(v) radar on board new Arleigh Burke–class destroyers. The work, under a new contract awarded by Aegis prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s MS2 business unit, is for production of about 3,700 radio and microwave assemblies at Cobham’s Exeter, New Hampshire, facilities.

The SPY-1D(v) is an advanced variant of the SPY-1 phased-array radar, the primary air-defense radar for Ticonderoga-class cruisers as well as the Burke destroyers. Also called the “littoral warfare radar,” the 1D(v) provides search, detection, and tracking of antiship missiles for newer Burkes, and is capable of tracking low-flying targets through dense atmospheric clutter.

John Moore, vice president of microwave components at Cobham, said the Lockheed Martin award supports production of SPY-1D(v) power-transmission assemblies for the newest planned Burke-class ships, the William S. Sims, Callaghan, and Scott (DDGs 113–115), the last of the so-called Flight IIA Burkes, which started with the USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79). The Navy hopes to start procurement for a significantly enhanced Flight III ship beginning in Fiscal Year 2016.

In October 2010 Lockheed Martin MS2 won Navy contracts for production definitization of the Aegis system for the Sims and for advance procurement for the Callaghan and Scott. The Sims and Callaghan will be built at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard, and the Scott at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Moore said that Cobham already is fabricating its Aegis power-transmission assemblies, aiming at delivery to Lockheed Martin’s Moorestown, New Jersey, plant in about a year for integration with the SPY-1D(v) and system testing. Delivery to the shipyard would occur 12 to 16 months later.

The Cobham contract also funds assemblies for one “Aegis Ashore” SPY-1D(v), supporting the Missile Defense Agency’s plan to deploy the SPY-1 to ballistic-missile defense (BMD) shore sites, beginning with a test location at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, to be followed in 2015 by standup of a facility in Romania and one in Poland in 2018.

In the past year, according to Moore, Cobham has deployed personnel to provide extensive emergency-maintenance and repair work for Aegis systems. The company sent crews to the Navy’s Surface Combat Systems Center in Wallops Island, Virginia, where Aegis performance is tested, to repair damage caused by severe weather. Also in recent months, Cobham carried out emergency repairs on board the Aegis cruisers USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) and Chancellorsville (CG-62), and the Burke destroyer Momsen (DDG-92). The company’s emergency repair efforts, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, earned it a Navy commendation.

Cobham is supplying components for about ten other radars on board the Burkes. The company provides a wide range of electronic components and assemblies for many Navy shipboard radars, as well as for submarine systems. It also is providing components for the Lockheed Martin–designed S-band volume-search radar for the Zumwalt-class destroyers, and expects to participate as a supplier for a new air-missile-defense radar (AMDR) that is being considered for the Flight III Burkes.

In September, the Navy awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin MS2, Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems, and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems for technology development for the AMDR S-band and radar-suite controller, to be completed in September 2012. The AMDR S-band provides volume search and tracking and BMD discrimination. The AMDR also will be fitted with an X-band radar for horizon search and precision tracking.

Cobham, said Moore, continues to provide high-power radar components to Navy radar primes Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. The company’s radar technology, he added, also is transferable to systems for the other services. In addition to its Navy work, Cobham provides components for the Air Force’s F-15 and F-16 fighters, several Army radars, and a range of commercial radar applications.

Mr. Walsh is a veteran reporter of Navy and Marine Corps news and former editor of Naval Systems Update.

Ed Walsh

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