The US Missile Protection Company (MDA) has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract price round $500 million to increase the efficiency of the Aegis Weapon System for the safety of the strategic island of Guam from the Chinese language missile risk.
“Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Programs have acquired a $527,740,864 Missile Protection Company contract to increase the efficiency of the Aegis Weapon System to implement Built-in Air and Missile Protection capabilities on Guam,” the Division of Protection stated in a press launch issued on December 28.
The work on the challenge can be carried out over the following 5 years in Moorestown, New Jersey, with a scheduled completion date of December 31, 2027, as per the press launch.
The MDA printed a discover in July that stated it intends to award a sole supply contract to Lockheed Martin for the Aegis Guam System (AG) through a Request For Data (RFI) except any alternate sources had been discovered, which was extremely unbelievable.
This was after the company disclosed its chosen structure for the protection of Guam towards air and missile threats in March, which incorporates cell models utilizing the Aegis Fight System, the Customary Missile (SM)-3 and SM-6, the Patriot air-and-missile protection system, and the US Army’s Built-in Air and Missile Protection Battle Command System (IBCS) in addition to sustaining the Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection (THAAD) system already on Guam since 2013.
The present Guam missile protection structure contains the THAAD system and Aegis missile defense-capable Navy ships.
The total plan appears to construct upon that structure by integrating the SM-3 and SM-6 ballistic missiles and Patriot air-and-missile protection system with the THAAD through the US Army’s IBCS. This command-and control-system connects sensors and shooters on the battlefield.
Based on a earlier interview with Lockheed Martin’s vp and common supervisor of the corporate’s built-in warfare methods and sensors enterprise, Jon Rambeau, the Aegis command and management suite would be the core of the structure. The corporate expects to “present the pipe to IBCS to entry Army capabilities that can be residing on Guam” in addition to present “the battle hyperlink with the Lockheed Martin Command and Management Battle Administration System (C2BMC).”
Such a missile protection structure, the MDA believes, ought to have the ability to present 360-degree safety towards enemy cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles.
It’s also doable that the MDA might later incorporate extra mid-range succesful missile protection methods or add different capabilities just like the Raytheon Decrease-Tier Air & Missile Protection Sensor radar.
US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)
The US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has been vocal about needing these defensive capabilities on Guam by 2026. It’s strategically important for future US army efforts to maintain China from attacking Taiwan.
The island of Guam homes two strategic US bases: 1) Naval Base Guam and a couple of) Andersen Air Power Base (AFB). Naval Base Guam is a homeport for the 2 US Navy submarine tenders and 4 US Navy nuclear-powered submarines, and it helps the US Pacific Fleet forces.
Whereas Andersen AFB hosts the US Air Power’s (USAF’s) B-1, B-2, or B-52 heavy bomber rotations from the American mainland. A brand new base has additionally been constructed between the above two army amenities, which share joint management.
Over time, China’s Folks’s Liberation Army has developed a large arsenal of long-range, precision-guided weapons to be fielded as layers of Anti Entry/Space Denial (A2/AD) defenses to maintain the US army from reaching key places throughout large-scale typical conflicts.
These comprise varied surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles that may attain Guam, the US ahead army hub exterior the primary island chain, and would undoubtedly be a key goal for the PLA missiles.
As EurAsian Instances reported earlier, China has been refining its ship-killing expertise from hanging massive, carrier-sized targets to smaller ships and naval bases in a goal vary in Xinjiang’s distant Taklamakan desert with targets constructed within the form of Guam, American plane service and not less than two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
Based on consultants, the character, location, and strikes on these mock-up layouts recommend the targets had been meant for testing hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs).
China is understood to have been growing a number of ASBMs, one among which is the land-based DF-26, also referred to as the “Guam Specific,” due to its vary of as much as 3,000 miles (5,000km), sufficient to succeed in the island of Guam.
In 2020, China launched a propaganda video depicting a simulated assault on Andersen AFB on Guam, making no effort to cover its intentions.
