Jane Edwards
Lockheed Martin will conduct in the spring a live-fire test meant to demonstrate the integration of the U.S. Army’s Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System, Defense News reported Thursday.
Tom Copeman, vice president of naval systems within Lockheed’s missiles and fire control business, said the company will use a ground-launched vertical launch platform for the upcoming test and expects the Department of Defense or the Navy to perform additional tests that could pave the way for an initial operational capability on a ship.
Copeman told the publication that the Navy has capacity and capability gaps against advanced maritime threats and that the Patriot missile is a combat-proven weapon against hypersonic threats.
The Lockheed executive noted that spending on PAC-3 MSE integration efforts will have reached approximately $100 million by the end of 2024.
The PAC-3 MSE is usually fired from the Army’s Patriot air-and-missile defense system and has a production line in Camden, Arkansas, that could manufacture 550 missiles per year.
