The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training business unit, has certified an upgraded baseline for the Aegis combat system as ready for operational use on board the Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
The certification, for baseline 9A for the cruisers, is the latest in a series of key decision points for the Navy and the company in the ongoing modernization of the Aegis system, both for the cruisers and for Arleigh Burke–class destroyers. In December the company completed a preliminary design review (PDR) for the newest baseline, referred to as 9.C2, now planned for the Burke destroyers expected to be funded for construction in Fiscal Year 2016.
The 9.C2 PDR followed a just-completed critical-design review for a new ballistic-missile-defense (BMD) computer program, designated BMD 5.1, which will provide a “third-generation” BMD defense capability for those ships.
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