The US Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin a $135.8 contract for work on the development and integration of the Aegis Baseline 9 systems for Japan Maritime Self Defense Force destroyers.
The Baseline 9/BMD 5.1 variant is referred to as J7 for Japanese destroyers.
The contract award follows a test from February this year which marked the first shipboard demonstration of the Aegis Baseline 9.2 (BMD 5.1) Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) tracking and engagement capabilities against complex threats. The test was carried out from US Navy destroyer USS John Paul Jones.
Back in August 2016, Lockheed Martin received a $490 million contract to equip additional Japanese, Republic of Korea and US Navy destroyers with the integrated AEGIS air and missile defense (IAMD) capabilities.
Work on this contract is expected to be completed by December 2018.
LM has already provided four of Japan’s Kongo-class destroyers and two Atago-class destroyers with sea, air and undersea threat detection capabilities and will now provide the two next-generation Atago-class destroyers – the 27DDG destroyer – with the Aegis ship set.