Aegis Combat System

The Aegis Combat System is the integrated sensor-to-shooter suite at the heart of every U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It fuses the Lockheed Martin-developed command-and-decision, display, and weapon-control software with an SPY-series phased-array radar and the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System to engage air, surface, subsurface, and ballistic missile threats simultaneously.

Baseline upgrades have kept Aegis relevant for four decades, adding the Ballistic Missile Defense mission with Standard Missile-3, the cooperative engagement capability, and, on DDG Flight III, integration with Raytheon's AN/SPY-6 radar. Aegis Ashore deployments in Romania and Poland, plus sales to Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, and Norway, make it the de facto architecture for Western naval air defense.

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