The Navy’s Block 2 SEWIP system consists of an improved antenna, receiver, and open-system combat systems interface to the SLQ-32. Block 2 will provide improved electronic support receivers and combat system interfaces to enhance detection capability and accuracy over that of the Block 1 system.
The Integrated Defense Systems Division of CAES produces the antenna array assemblies for the Block 2 variant of the Navy’s Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP). The system, also called V(6), has been installed on Arleigh Burke–class destroyers and eventually will be fielded on most surface combatants. CAES, a U.S. company, is the new name for Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions, formerly Cobham PLC, a U.K. company.
Rob Smith, CAES senior vice president and Integrated Defense Systems Division general manager, says the group manufactures the Block 2 antenna array assemblies as a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin, which conducts testing and integration of the assemblies with the complete system at its Syracuse, New York, facility before delivering the assemblies to the Navy. Each Arleigh Burke–class ship gets four Block 2 systems. Smith says CAES currently is delivering eight array panels, or two shipsets, to Lockheed Martin each month.
The SEWIP initiative, overseen by the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems, started in 2002 after the Navy canceled the Advanced Integrated Electronic Warfare System because it became too expensive. The SEWIP aims at evolutionary upgrades to the 1970s-vintage Raytheon-built SLQ-32 surface ship electronic warfare system, a passive system that detects approaching antiship missiles and provides threat analysis and early warning. In 2002, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems won the Block 1 work, encompassing Blocks 1A, 1B1, 1B2, and 1B3, all of which now are in full-rate production.
Beginning in the 1990s, Cobham made a series of corporate acquisitions, and in 2020 it was acquired by Advent International, a private equity firm.
In February the company won a $38.5 million sole-source Navy indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract for engineering services and spares for the currently fielded Block 2 antenna array assemblies and ancillary electronics components. The work period extends to February 2028.
In late 2009, Lockheed Martin won a Navy award for Block 2 engineering development, which continued to 2012, with support from Cobham. In 2013, the Block 2 program moved to two low-rate production phases, then entered full-rate production in September 2016. In December 2022 and October 2020, CAES won subcontractor awards from Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems for production of the assemblies. The December award was valued at $24.6 million and the 2020 award at $50 million.
To date, CAES has built and delivered more than 550 Block 2 SEWIP antenna array assemblies from its Lansdale, Pennsylvania, facility.
Prior to the new IDIQ award, CAES also refurbished systems returned from the fleet for repair and upgrade in its subcontractor role for Lockheed Martin. Smith says the new Navy IDIQ award will fund CAES to provide engineering services, spares, and repairs of the already-deployed array assemblies and deliver them directly to the Navy for return to the fleet.
More changes are in the offing. Northrop Grumman Mission Systems won a 2015 Navy award for SEWIP Block 3, or V(7), which will provide electronic attack performance improvements. The Navy also plans a Block 4 upgrade that will enable advanced electro-optic and infrared capabilities.
CAES has acquired a division of Ultra Electronics, a U.K. firm that will build advanced electronics components for the Block 3 program at sites in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Woburn, Massachusetts; and Whippany, New Jersey.