Angeline Leishman
Northrop Grumman is considering a scaled-down version of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program Block 3 system to fit small U.S. Navy ships with a focus on frigates, C4ISRNET reported Monday.
Mike Meaney, vice president of land and maritime sensors at Northrop, said in an interview with the publication that ongoing research and development efforts on a compact electronic attack platform were spurred by hints that the Navy would require such a capability in the future.
“On smaller ships sizes, we know it’s of great interest to the Navy to put this soft-kill capability with unlimited bullets on almost every ship that they have because the incredible protection electronic warfare offers you,” he explained.
Designed for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, SEWIP Block 3 works to enable a ship to launch non-kinetic, electronic attacks toward incoming missiles.
Northrop is currently under contract with the Navy for the limited-rate initial production of two electronic attack systems, with Meaney anticipating an order for four more in fiscal 2022.
