Engineering 166 www. bus- ex. com NOVEMBER 09 excellence

Lockheed Martin has been working to develop, refine and improve the Aegis missile defense system since the 1970s. Greg Andrews explains how the defense contractor's engineering excellence has helped create a key link in the country's defense against ballistic missiles T he ships of the US Navy's fleet are among the most potent and versatile weapons in the country's military defense arsenal. But by their very nature, those ships can at times also be vulnerable to attack from other naval vessels, from air- to- sea missiles and from long- range missiles fired from ground installations. To address that vulnerability, the US military has long worked to develop a ballistic missile defense system that is capable of locating, identifying and intercepting missiles before they reach naval vessels. A key part of that effort has been the work of Lockheed Martin, considered the world's largest defense contractor by revenue, which first tackled the task of developing such a system in the 1970s and has refined the complex systems since. Today, the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ( BMD) system consists of a package of tightly integrated technologies, including the SPY- 1 radar, the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, the SM- 3 missile and the weapon system's on-board command and control system. Aegis has also been designed to integrate with other related defense and warning systems found aboard vessels in the US Navy fleet and those of key allies. Engineering Lockheed Martin NOVEMBER 09 www. bus- ex. com 167 excellence