Lockheed Martin is integrating the PAC-3 missile with the Aegis Combat System to give U.S. Navy surface ships an additional interceptor capability, Chief Executive Jim Taiclet said. The company expects the approach to allow the Navy to field the capability on existing ships relatively rapidly.<\/p>\n
Taiclet presented the effort during Lockheed Martin\u2019s second-quarter 2026 earnings call as part of a broader strategy to adapt proven weapons and combat systems to new missions. The approach is intended to avoid starting from scratch where existing technology can be integrated into a new operational architecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat same logic, building on established battle-tested solutions instead of starting from scratch, guides the Navy\u2019s decision to integrate the PAC-3 missile into the Aegis Combat System,\u201d Taiclet said. \u201cThis move adds a new intercept capability to surface ships for the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The integration would extend PAC-3 into a naval combat-system architecture different from the one for which the missile was originally designed. Taiclet said that difference required Lockheed Martin to connect the missile\u2019s existing guidance capability with Aegis fire control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough the PAC-3 was originally designed for air defense with a different radar and launch architecture, the Navy\u2019s acquisition taps our truly unique integration expertise,\u201d Taiclet said.<\/p>\n
Lockheed Martin engineers have combined the missile\u2019s guidance mechanism with the Aegis fire-control system, according to Taiclet. He described the result as a single solution that can be fielded by the fleet.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur engineers were able to merge the missile\u2019s inherent guidance mechanism with our Aegis fire control system into a single fleet fieldable solution,\u201d Taiclet said.<\/p>\n
The significance for the Navy is the potential to add another interceptor option to ships already operating Aegis. Taiclet said the integration could allow the service to introduce the capability without waiting for an entirely new shipboard combat architecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will enable the U.S. Navy to deploy this new capability on its existing ships relatively rapidly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Taiclet did not identify which Navy ship classes would receive PAC-3, nor did he provide a deployment schedule, procurement quantity or contract value during the call. His remarks focused instead on Lockheed Martin\u2019s integration work and the use of an established interceptor within the Aegis architecture.<\/p>\n
The CEO also pointed to the company\u2019s long experience integrating missiles with Aegis. He linked the PAC-3 work to the same engineering approach Lockheed Martin has used across other air and missile-defense programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve demonstrated this system\u2019s integration discipline across our new Sanctum Counter-UAS system and every missile Aegis has fielded for more than 40 years,\u201d Taiclet said.<\/p>\n
The PAC-3 effort therefore centers on adapting an existing missile to an established naval combat system rather than creating a new interceptor from the ground up. Based on Taiclet\u2019s comments, Lockheed Martin sees that model as a way to move additional defensive capability into the U.S. fleet on a shorter timeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin is integrating the PAC-3 missile with the Aegis Combat System to give U.S. Navy surface ships…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-6489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-defence-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}