Two new U.S. Navy destroyers benefit from Aegis Combat Systems

MOORESTOWN, N.J., 21 April 2011. U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin engineers have installed the Aegis Combat System aboard two new Navy destroyers, USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109). The Aegis Combat Systems are certified as fully operational through Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials, during which the ships' Aegis Combat Systems were evaluated for combat-readiness via comprehensive surface, subsurface, and anti-air warfare exercises, including manned raids and electronic attack scenarios, as well as testing of the systems' tactical data link and air defense capabilities.

"The Aegis systems installed on these two ships represent continued improvements to what is a very agile and capable Aegis system," explains Carmen Valentino, Lockheed Martin's vice president of Future Surface Combat systems. "Our Aegis team has delivered 15 technological evolutions to the Navy, taking the Aegis combat system from an anti-ship missile system to the basis for the U.S. approach to global missile defense."

The Aegis Weapon System includes the SPY-1 radar, which is considered the Navy's most advanced radar system and, when paired with the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, is capable of delivering missiles for missions and threat environments in naval warfare.

The Aegis Weapon System is now deployed on 95 ships worldwide. Aegis is the weapon system of choice for Australia, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and Spain, says a representative. Aegis-equipped ships combined have more than 1,200 years of at-sea operational experience and have launched more than 3,800 missiles in tests and actual operations.

The USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham are Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.