The Naval News web resource reported that at the 35th annual National Symposium of the US Navy Surface Fleet Association (Surface Navy Association - SNA) held in Washington from January 10 to 12, 2023, Lockheed Martin Corporation for the first time demonstrated a ship-based version of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Enhancement anti-aircraft guided missile (PAC-3 MSE) the Patriot long-range land-based anti-aircraft missile system. The naval version of the Patriot PAC-3 MSE is integrated into the ship's universal vertical launcher Mk 41.
Presented at the exposition of the 35th Annual National Symposium of the US Navy Surface Fleet Association (Surface Navy Association - SNA) by Lockheed Martin Corporation, the concept of a ship-based version of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) land-based Patriot long-range anti-aircraft missile system with placement in the ship's universal vertical launcher Mk 41. Washington, January 2023 (c) Aaron-Matthew Lariosa / www.navalnews.comThe article reports that the demonstration at the SNA-2023 symposium consisted of one Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missile placed in one cell of the Mk 41 UVPU.
Tom Cavanaugh of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division said of the efforts to integrate the PAC-3 MSE missile into the AEGIS weapon system: "We have already done some testing and integration work for the [US] government, during which we demonstrated the capabilities at different levels of system integration into the AEGIS weapon system, which ultimately As a result, it will lead to flight tests in the near future (as shown in the exhibition), but this is already fully integrated into the AEGIS weapon system."
Thomas Copeman, vice president for naval systems of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division, said in a video interview with Naval News that Patriot was integrated with AEGIS in previous work at the Pacific Missile Range at the AEGIS Ashore facility, a ground-based version of the AEGIS missile defense system.
Both Lockheed Martin representatives cited various reasons why the Patriot could be a good alternative to the Standard Missile (SM) series currently in service with the US Navy.
Kavanaugh stressed that PAC-3 MSE capabilities such as kinetic interception, Ka-band active radar homing system and altitude thrust control will bring a new dimension to the air defense of the US Navy.
"Thus, it kind of changes the calculations in light of how our opponents are targeting their weapons systems on our platforms, since they know which weapons systems in the form of Standard Missile have been in our fleet for more than 50 years. And the opponents have developed measures to counteract these systems. Now it is possible to change these calculations using this weapon [PAC-3 MSE]. So this will give the fleet great opportunities."
Another aspect that Kavanaugh drew attention to is the long-existing and increasingly expanding production line of PAC-3 MSE missiles, which, in turn, can provide the US Navy with another source of missiles with anti-missile capabilities.
"We are at the production level of 500 missiles per year, which will be increased to 550 by the end of 2023. And we are also investing in simplifying production to further increase their output."
The PAC-3 MSE missiles can complement the Standard SM series missiles in the most important missile defense task in the fleet. For comparison, the current production of SM-6 is 125 missiles per year, with plans to increase to 200 missiles per year by 2026.
Although the length of the Mk 41 launcher cell required to accommodate the PAC-3 MSE is not reported, Copeland confirmed that the missile does not need mines of "striking length". Lockheed Martin intends to make the missile suitable for placement on all US Navy ships equipped with the Mk 41 UVPU.
The concept of the Patriot vertical launch air defense system has been around for a long time. However, Kavanaugh said that recent interest from the US Navy has breathed new life into Lockheed Martin's development of Patriot missiles suitable for launching from the Mk 41 UVPU.
"Yes, we have studied this before. There is increasing interest from the US Navy. I would say that they are now focusing more and more on this. Last year we made significant progress in our integration efforts and demonstrated this integration to the US government."
Naval News could not get a comment on why exactly the interest of the US Navy increased to such an extent that the concept was presented at the SNA-2023 symposium.
This concept is in line with Lockheed Martin's overall efforts to combine army and naval programs, as previously successfully demonstrated in the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile systems.
