INDO-PACOM Used Ground-based Aegis Combat System Prototype to Target Missile Threats, Surface Targets
June 29, 2021 7:23 PM
Overview of Valiant Shield 2020 experiment that paired a ground-based Aegis combat system with Army units. Lockheed Martin Image
Last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command quietly packed the combat system from a guided-missile destroyer into about the size of a footlocker, took it ashore and hooked it up to an Army artillery unit, an Air Force command node and an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter.
Last September, INDO-PACOM used the Virtualized Aegis Weapon System (VAWS) in an experiment to see if the combat management technology of the sea-based Aegis could be used by Army and Air Force units, Lockheed Martin software engineers said during the WEST 2021 conference, cohosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA. The experiments used VAWs to route targeting information used by destroyers and cruisers with an Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) unit and a PAC-3 missile defense system instead.