Navy Protects Fleet, Nation With Help of CSC Software
(Photo courtesy U.S. Navy)
When the U.S. Navy contracted Lockheed Martin to build the world’s most sophisticated seaborne missile defense system, Lockheed Martin turned to CSC for the software needed to make it work. The resulting Aegis combat system has now protected U.S. and allied warships for a quarter century from aerial attacks, cruise missiles, surface ships and submarines, and is now a part of the nation’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) program.
“Aegis is a compelling example of industry-Navy teamwork,” said Orlando Carvalho, Lockheed Martin vice president. "Our team has evolved Aegis capabilities to meet every threat our Navy warfighters face, including the ability to track ballistic missiles and destroy them—and CSC has been with us every step of the way."
The Rise of Aegis
In the wake World War II, Navy leaders took a lesson from the Japanese kamikaze attacks. They realized that projectile guns would not neutralize the more advanced homing weapons of the future, and initiated a requirement for a ship-based defensive missile system. The Talos, Tartar and Terrier missiles, nicknamed the 3Ts, were born.
By the late 1950s, the 3Ts were becoming obsolete as the Cold War arms race produced faster and more maneuverable aerial threats. Their intended replacement, Typhon, was canceled due to poor radar performance and budget issues. The Navy issued another requirement in 1964, and a New Jersey division of RCA—now part of Lockheed Martin—decided to vie for the contract. With its naval expertise limited to radar design, Lockheed Martin assembled a team of contractors which included CSC as its computer program developer. The Navy chose Lockheed Martin for the contract in 1970 and dubbed the weapons system Aegis after the indestructible shield of the Greek god, Zeus.
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The Aegis team began full-scale development in 1970 and tested the first version aboard the USS Norton Sound in 1974. CSC developed the software for the four main components of the weapons system, including the radar software that controls Lockheed Martin’s SPY 1 radar; the weapons control system that orders the battle sequence and interfaces with aircraft, missiles and five-inch guns; the command and decision module that coordinates the radar with the weapons and ensures combat decisions are legal and effective; and the display system that allows Aegis operators to see what is happening during combat operations.
Construction of the Ticonderoga-class cruiser began in 1977 to house the Aegis combat system. Before the new class entered service in 1983, Lockheed Martin won the competition to adapt Aegis to yet another class, designed to take advantage of technological advancements in shipbuilding. The smaller and faster Arleigh Burke-class destroyer entered service in 1991 and proved less expensive to build and harder to detect with radar. Other warfighting improvements, including new versions of the radar and a vertical missile launching system, required Aegis redesigns. By the end of 2006, seven technological baselines had been installed on more than 80 Aegis warships around the world, including those in service with international allies Japan, Spain and Norway. In the years to come, more Aegis ships are to be delivered to these countries, as well as South Korea and Australia. CSC also provides the software for the Aegis international programs.
CSC is now helping modernize Aegis by migrating it from military computer systems to commercial off-the-shelf computers. The upgraded hardware runs faster, costs less, and uses more versatile architecture and software. "This is a way to get the Aegis combat system into the 21st century," says Bill Goehrig, CSC’s BMD director. "Instead of depending on custom-contracted compilers and equipment, we can use commercially available tools, debuggers, and hardware."
Expanding the Shield
In 2002, President George W. Bush set a goal to produce an operational ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) by September 2004. CSC helped the Aegis team meet that challenge by modifying Aegis software to meet the requirements of the sea-based subcomponent of the national BMDS. “Based on its performance, we knew Aegis could be expanded to accomplish the mission of ballistic missile defense,” says Goehrig. “Experiments at sea established that the SPY radar and Aegis system had the long-range search-and-track capability needed to do the job.”
The Aegis program met President Bush’s date for initial defensive operations, and the Navy certified the first version of Aegis BMD for emergency deployment on seven ships. In August 2006, the Navy certified Aegis BMD for tactical deployment. During test missions, Aegis BMD successfully intercepted eight of 10 ballistic missile targets. This is an amazing record, says Goehrig, who describes the mission as “hitting a bullet with a bullet.” By early 2007, 16 Aegis-equipped ships were deployed with Aegis BMD, with plans for two more by 2008.
CSC’s performance in the Aegis BMD program has been recognized for its achievements. In March 2001, Aegis achieved a Level 5 rating from the Software Engineering Institute using its Software Capability Maturity Model, a rating only 2 percent of IT companies had achieved at the time. “The CMMI Level 5 rating puts us in an elite class,” says Goehrig. “The high level of maturity in our engineering model is one of the reasons CSC has been on this contract for over 35 years. I am very proud of the achievements of the team. No one else does what we do; no one else has the capabilities of our team.”
