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US Navy certifies Aegis Baseline 9.C1

12th January 2016 - 14:30 GMT | by Shephard News Team

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The latest evolution of the Aegis Combat System, Baseline 9.C1, has been certified by the US Navy and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for the US destroyer fleet, the Lockheed Martin announced on 11 January.

Aegis Baseline 9.C1 is set to provide the US Navy surface fleet with an even more advanced air defence capability. Baseline 9.C1 includes the Balistic Missile Defense (BMD) 5.0 Capability Upgrade, which provides the capability to shoot down ballistic missiles in both the endo-atmosphere (lower atmosphere) and exo-atmosphere (upper atmosphere).

The BMD capabilities of Baseline 9.C1 are also present in Aegis Ashore, the ground-based missile defence programme that is the second phase of the US Phased Adaptive Approach to protect Europe from ballistic missile attack.

Baseline certification follows testing and verification of recent BMD upgrades performed by the navy and the MDA. Over the course of the four test events aboard USS John Paul Jones, Aegis detected, tracked, and engaged two ballistic missile and two air warfare targets, with each event resulting in the successful intercept of a single target.

Jim Sheridan, director of Aegis program, Lockheed Martin, said: ‘The Aegis Combat System Baseline 9.C1 offers unprecedented capabilities, including simultaneous air and ballistic missile defence. This Aegis baseline also improves Aegis networking capabilities, allowing Aegis vessels to automatically coordinate defence with input from satellite and ground-based radar assets—forming a true shield of defence over a wide area.’