Electronic attack system to provide Navy more capabilities, flexible options

TR_123456 · Aug 2, 2021

Contractor Northrop Grumman is set to adapt it's SEWIP system for larger deck ships to protect against incoming anti-ship missiles. (Northrop Grumman).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s ship-based electronic countermeasure system will provide an unlimited supply of ammunition against incoming threats, allowing the service to be more dynamic, and will open up new concepts for other capabilities, the system’s contractor said.

The Block III of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, or SEWIP, provides ships a non-kinetic, electronic attack capability and will be outfitted to Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, but contractor Northrop Grumman said there are bigger plans in the works.

The Navy awarded Northrop a contract in June to develop a technology data package based on the SEWIP technology for larger-deck ships such as aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.

“This system was developed at a really good time because as our peer and near-peer adversaries are growing in capability, one of the areas that they’re growing in is anti-ship missiles,” said Mike Meaney, vice president of land and maritime sensors at Northrop. “Really, really essential that all of our deployed forces have effective EA [electronic attack] against some of our adversaries’ weapons.”

The SEWIP system essentially provides an “unlimited supply of bullets” against incoming missiles or any other threats, Meaney said, to non-kinetically confuse the missile or deny it information, forcing the weapon to crash into the ocean.

Meaney added that with further development and deployment of this type of technology, ships will have the ability to increase their kinetic missile magazines and be more flexible to use those kinetic weapons in other ways rather than dedicating some to shooting down incoming missiles.

“What we see as the future is by having effective electronic attack systems like SEWIP on ships, it’s going to allow the ship’s captain and crew to depend on them and solve the anti-ship threat with non-kinetic solutions, allowing them more missiles than their magazine to shoot for offensive purposes,” he said. “That’s the opportunity that SEWIP provides to the Navy, is an opportunity to rely out how they configure their ships’ missile magazines. And as it’s proven out there and fully demonstrated, the confidence will grow, and then the Navy can look at putting more offensive weapons into their ship magazines than they currently have today.”