Lockheed Martin Wins $724 Million Aegis Modification for Japan’s Missile Defense Ships
Lockheed Martin has received a $724 million contract modification to keep building the combat systems for Japan’s two Aegis System Equipped Vessels, the missile defence ships Tokyo is adding to its fleet. The Missile Defense Agency announced the award in the Pentagon’s contract notices for 29 September. It is funded through a Foreign Military Sales case with the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The value is $723,997,537. The agency obligated $220.1 million at the time of award, and work will run through 31 March 2030.
What the Contract Notice Says
The notice describes a noncompetitive modification that combines firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee terms. Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems will carry out the work at its Moorestown, New Jersey, site and in Japan, and the Missile Defense Agency office in Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
The wording covers the delivery of Aegis-equipped vessels and combat systems to Japan. The public notice does not break the money down by ship, radar or software, and it does not say how the new funds relate to earlier modifications. A separate $271 million modification for the same program was reported in January 2024.
A Shipset Built in New Jersey
Each of Japan’s ships will carry four AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar arrays, along with the radar processing, power and cooling equipment and the Aegis Combat System computers and displays. Lockheed Martin said in August that it had validated the first complete shipset at Moorestown and was preparing it for shipment to Japan later this year. A second shipset is due to go through testing at the site’s production test center this autumn.
The company said the two ships will be compatible with Japan’s existing Kongo, Atago and Maya-class destroyers and with US Navy Aegis vessels, so that they can share tracking data in a crisis. It also said the program would “help shape the future of the nation’s maritime defense.”
The SPY-7 is a solid-state radar. In a live-target tracking test earlier this year, the Missile Defense Agency, Lockheed Martin and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force followed targets across two separate events. Defense Post reported a detection range of about 2,000 kilometres, a figure that comes from the test coverage rather than from a published program specification.
Two Big Ships for Ballistic Missile Defence
Japan chose the ASEV design after it cancelled the Aegis Ashore land-based sites in 2020. The ships are large surface combatants of roughly 12,000 tons standard displacement, and their main job is to defend against ballistic missiles. Japanese authorities are also planning to add counter-drone, anti-ship and land-attack capabilities later.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is building the first vessel, which is expected to be delivered in 2027 and commissioned by March 2028. Japan Marine United is building the second, due in 2028 with commissioning by March 2029.
The radar has other customers in the pipeline. Canada plans to fit it to its River-class destroyers, and Spain’s F-110 frigates are also slated to receive it, according to Defense Post. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said the ASEV would give Japan “the latest Ballistic Missile Defense capabilities” and “significantly bolster their defense against regional missile threats.”
Lockheed Martin will deliver the first shipset to Japan this year, and the contract runs to March 2030, well past the commissioning of both ships.
