WASHINGTON — For the first time the Japanese military will be installing a Lockheed Martin electronic warfare anti-ship missile capability on its vessels, courtesy of a new $113 million contract, the company announced today.
“The purchase for Japan marks the first international sale of the premier shipboard electronic warfare system in the world,” according to a Lockheed statement. “Japan is a critical ally in the Western Pacific. Having [Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program] provides the same state-of-the-art system for detecting and identifying threats that the U.S. Navy uses, enhancing shipboard capabilities, and increasing interoperability with the U.S. Navy.”
The Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, or SEWIP, refers to the AN/SLQ-32 system, which the Navy often calls “slick 32,” and is being installed on almost every surface ship in the American fleet. Generally EW uses electromagnetic or directed energy to accomplish one of three objectives: electromagnetic attack or jamming an adversary’s systems, defensive measures to protect personnel or protect equipment from getting jammed and electronic support which focuses on surveillance and identifying sources of electromagnetic energy.
As Lockheed Martin puts it, “SEWIP allows sailors to protect the ship from the threats you can see (incoming missiles) to those you can’t (radar jamming).”
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The SEWIP program has four blocks, with varying levels of capability: General Dynamics makes Block I, Lockheed Martin produces Block II, Northrop Grumman is responsible for Block III and the fourth block is a yet-to-determined future upgrade. In general, Lockheed Martin’s block specifically focuses on enhancing the system’s electronic sensing capabilities.
Lockheed’s block is installed on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and both classes of the Littoral Combat Ship as well as planned for installation on the US Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter.
The sale to Japan comes as the White House has made multiple efforts to strengthen the US-Japan relationship through defense technology cooperation and investments among other things.
In April, Washington and Tokyo announced plans to “bilaterally upgrade our respective command and control frameworks to enable seamless integration of operations and capabilities and allow for greater interoperability and planning between U.S. and Japanese forces in peacetime and during contingencies.
“More effective U.S.-Japan Alliance command and control will strengthen deterrence and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of pressing regional security challenges,” the White House said.
The Navy announced last week that an American F-35B landed onboard a Japanese destroyer for the first time while exercising off the coast of California.