Lockheed Martin’s helicopter-based missile-detection system passes U.S. Navy review “milestone”

 “The battlefield at sea is constantly changing,” Joe Ottaviano, electronic-warfare program director at Lockheed Martin, said in a news release. “Our Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare capabilities will give the U.S. Navy a powerful tool to detect threats and respond to our adversaries.”

Lockheed Martin said it was awarded the AOEW contract on Dec. 23, 2016. The U.S. Navy presented Lockheed a $42 million contract for the system design and development phase.

The company said it expects to be awarded the EMD (engineering & manufacturing development) phase of the contract later this year. It has options for six units.

The AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 can work independently or with the ship’s onboard electronic-surveillance sensor — SEWIP Block 2 AN/SLQ-32(V)6 — to detect an incoming missile and then evaluate where it is going. AOEW then uses radio-frequency countermeasure techniques to deter the missile, Lockheed said the AOEW program “leverages expertise” across the company.

Construction of the AOEW systems in Lockheed’s Salina plant, is scheduled to begin in early 2018. Workers at Lockheed’s Owego facility will integrate the system onto the MH-60 helicopters, which are built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company.

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