USA News Lockheed to test Patriot and Aegis integration in live-fire test

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WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin will test this spring whether it can successfully integrate the U.S. Army’s latest and most capable variant of the Patriot missile with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System.

By the end of the year, Lockheed will have spent roughly $100 million on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) integration effort so far, according to Tom Copeman, vice president of naval systems within the company’s missiles and fire control business.


“The U.S. Navy has capability and capacity gaps against advanced threats at sea,” Copeman told Defense News in a Jan. 18 interview. The Patriot missile is “a combat-proven weapon against advanced threats, against hypersonic [weapons].”

The capability is “definitely complementary to what [the Navy has] today,” Shireen Melvin, director of integrated combat management within the company’s rotary and mission systems business, said in the same interview.

Lockheed in 2017 decided to pursue an upgraded capability that would allow it to avoid a typically lengthy and costly missile development schedule, Copeman said.


The PAC-3 MSE, as the upgraded missile is known, already has a hot production line in Camden, Arkansas, that is currently ramping up to produce 550 missiles a year. The missile is typically fired from the U.S. Army’s Patriot air-and-missile defense system. Lockheed has plans to increase its production numbers as it replenishes the stockpile of missiles sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly two years ago.

The Missile Defense Agency provided the company with a small amount of funding early on to integrate PAC-3 MSE into its Aegis Ashore baseline capability. Aegis Ashore provides missile defense capability from a deckhouse on land. There is one operational Aegis Ashore in Romania and another in Poland that has yet to reach full operational capability.

That effort did not include a live-fire test, but rather a hardware-in-the-loop test in the fall of 2022 using Army launchers instead of Navy platforms at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

Lockheed then invested internally to integrate PAC-3 MSE to be fired from Aegis ships.

In summer 2023, Lockheed proved it could integrate PAC-3 MSE missiles with the Aegis SPY-1 radar, an integrated air-and-missile defense sensor, aboard Aegis capable ships. There are nearly 100 SPY-1 radars aboard Aegis cruisers and destroyers.

The spring live-fire test will use a ground-launched vertical launch system rather than one on board Aegis ships, but is meant to demonstrate integration with the entire Aegis combat system, according to Copeman.

If the test is successful, he added, the company hopes the Navy or Defense Department will conduct further tests that could lead to an initial operational capability on a ship. “As of yet, that has not been funded by the DoD,” Copeman said.

Lockheed has also been involved in efforts with the Missile Defense Agency in recent years to integrate the Patriot air-and-missile defense system and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, also manufactured by the company.

In early 2022, MDA successfully launched a PAC-3 MSE missile from a THAAD system in a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in an effort to rapidly field the integrated capability in response to an urgent operational request in the Indo-Pacific region.



@Kartal1 @Sanchez @Gary

This is going to be revolutionary.
PAC-3 MSE double packed in MK41 will add true Hypersonic point defense capability. The same way ESSM block ii is utilized against subsonic and supersonic vampires.
 

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View attachment 64841

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin will test this spring whether it can successfully integrate the U.S. Army’s latest and most capable variant of the Patriot missile with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System.

By the end of the year, Lockheed will have spent roughly $100 million on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) integration effort so far, according to Tom Copeman, vice president of naval systems within the company’s missiles and fire control business.


“The U.S. Navy has capability and capacity gaps against advanced threats at sea,” Copeman told Defense News in a Jan. 18 interview. The Patriot missile is “a combat-proven weapon against advanced threats, against hypersonic [weapons].”

The capability is “definitely complementary to what [the Navy has] today,” Shireen Melvin, director of integrated combat management within the company’s rotary and mission systems business, said in the same interview.

Lockheed in 2017 decided to pursue an upgraded capability that would allow it to avoid a typically lengthy and costly missile development schedule, Copeman said.


The PAC-3 MSE, as the upgraded missile is known, already has a hot production line in Camden, Arkansas, that is currently ramping up to produce 550 missiles a year. The missile is typically fired from the U.S. Army’s Patriot air-and-missile defense system. Lockheed has plans to increase its production numbers as it replenishes the stockpile of missiles sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly two years ago.

The Missile Defense Agency provided the company with a small amount of funding early on to integrate PAC-3 MSE into its Aegis Ashore baseline capability. Aegis Ashore provides missile defense capability from a deckhouse on land. There is one operational Aegis Ashore in Romania and another in Poland that has yet to reach full operational capability.

That effort did not include a live-fire test, but rather a hardware-in-the-loop test in the fall of 2022 using Army launchers instead of Navy platforms at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

Lockheed then invested internally to integrate PAC-3 MSE to be fired from Aegis ships.

In summer 2023, Lockheed proved it could integrate PAC-3 MSE missiles with the Aegis SPY-1 radar, an integrated air-and-missile defense sensor, aboard Aegis capable ships. There are nearly 100 SPY-1 radars aboard Aegis cruisers and destroyers.

The spring live-fire test will use a ground-launched vertical launch system rather than one on board Aegis ships, but is meant to demonstrate integration with the entire Aegis combat system, according to Copeman.

If the test is successful, he added, the company hopes the Navy or Defense Department will conduct further tests that could lead to an initial operational capability on a ship. “As of yet, that has not been funded by the DoD,” Copeman said.

Lockheed has also been involved in efforts with the Missile Defense Agency in recent years to integrate the Patriot air-and-missile defense system and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, also manufactured by the company.

In early 2022, MDA successfully launched a PAC-3 MSE missile from a THAAD system in a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in an effort to rapidly field the integrated capability in response to an urgent operational request in the Indo-Pacific region.



@Kartal1 @Sanchez @Gary

This is going to be revolutionary.
PAC-3 MSE double packed in MK41 will add true Hypersonic point defense capability. The same way ESSM block ii is utilized against subsonic and supersonic vampires.
Where does it says that PAC-3MSE could be dual-packed inside an MK-41 ?
 

Afif

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Where does it says that PAC-3MSE could be dual-packed inside an MK-41 ?

It doesn't, I saw LM demonstrate it somewhere else.
 

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Well, I hope the USN best wishes with their endeavor.

96x MK.41 VLS could be divided into :

16x strike length MK-41 for Tomahawk
48x strike length dual pack PAC-3MSE for (96 total)
32x tactical length MK-41 for quad packed ESSM B2 (128 total)

grand total: 240 missiles for strike and fleet air defense

or :
16x strike length MK-41 for Tomahawk
16x tactical length quad packed MK-41 for ESSM (total 64)
64x strike length dual packed MK-41 for PAC-3MSE for 128 missiles

grand total: 208 missiles mainly for strike and fleet air defence


or :
16x strike length MK-41 for Tomahawk
16x tactical length quad packed MK-41 for ESSM (total 64)
16x strike length dual packed MK-41 for PAC-3MSE for 32 missiles
48x strike length MK-41 for SM-2/3/6 very long-range anti-air breathing/ballistic missiles

grand total: 160 missiles mainly for strike and fleet air defence

or:

16x tactical length quad packed MK-41 for ESSM (total 64)
16x strike length dual packed MK-41 for PAC-3MSE for 32 missiles
64x strike length MK-41 for SM-2/3/6 very long-range anti-air breathing/ballistic missiles

grand total: 160 missile for fleet air defence

That's a lot of firepower in one ship to go toe to toe with China. The USN could free up all 96 VLS for fleet air defense (which is arguably more important) and still retain their long-range strike capability by retrofitting existing ships with the new Adaptable Deck Launcher


Can't wait for the USN and PLAN to duke it out somewhere near in the future, may the best navy wins
 

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1716350567579.png


Lockheed Martin artist impression.

Lockheed Martin Launches Patriot Missile From VLS In First-Ever Test​

Lockheed Martin vertically launched a PAC-3 MSE for the first time in a test that downed a cruise missile target.​

Aaron-Matthew Lariosa 20 May 2024

PAC-3 MSE Integrated With Aegis Weapon System Defeats Target In Flight Test

Lockheed Martin Press Release

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, New Mexico – In partnership with multiple Department of Defense Services and Components, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) launched a PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE)interceptor from an MK-70 containerized launch platform to engage a cruise missile target in flight. This test marks the first time PAC-3 MSE was launched in this configuration, utilizing the Virtualized Aegis Weapon System, to intercept a live target.

“This successful test showcases Lockheed Martin’s commitment to developing mission-focused, integrated technology to keep those who serve ahead of evolving threats,” said Tom Copeman, vice president of Strategy and Naval Programs at Lockheed Martin.

These systems could deliver a proven, Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability with growing capacity to the U.S. to help defend against advanced, maneuverable threats.”

Lockheed Martin is working to deliver enhanced IAMD capability to the U.S.’s most modern combat system to defend against simultaneous advanced air, surface,and missile threats.

PAC-3’s unmatched Hit-to-Kill capabilities defend against advanced threats including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, and aircraft.
-Ends-

Naval News comments:
Lockheed Martin Patriot VLS
PAC-3 MSE launches from a MK-70 containerized launch platform. Lockheed Martin photo.

Lockheed Martin previously displayed the Mk.41 configuration of the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 Missile Segment Enhancement at Surface Navy Association 2023 and Sea Air Space 2023. While the concept is not new, the company highlighted the missile’s growing production lines and ballistic missile defense capabilities in its navalized concept of PAC-3 MSE. Numerous tests and integration with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Weapons System has taken place, including the completion of the Navy Integrated Fires Terminal Defense study last year.

According to Lockheed Martin officials, the vertical launch system PAC-3 MSE cannister will contain one missile and can fit across all Mk.41 systems. It should be noted that the ground-based Mk.70 system used in this test has been deployed by the U.S. Army and Navy.

 
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